For a Wanton
To men no more than so much cover For them to doff or try, I found in Death a constant lover: Here in his arms I lie.
Countee Cullen
To men no more than so much cover For them to doff or try, I found in Death a constant lover: Here in his arms I lie.
The title calls the speaker a “wanton,” an old-fashioned word for a woman considered loose or immoral. Speaking from beyond life, she says that to men she was never a person—only “cover,” like clothing they could take off or try on and then discard.
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