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Anna Wickham
What was not done on earth by incapacity
Of old, was promised for the life to be.
But I will build a heaven which shall prove
A lovelier paradise
To your brave mortal eyes
Than the eternal tranquil promise of the Good.
For freedom I will give perfected love,
For which you shall not pay in shelter or in food.
For the work of my head and hands I will be paid,
But I take no fee to be wedded, or to remain a maid.
My three sisters and I
traded virginity
for comfort
my three sisters
got rings and Mrs.
and respectability
I got two dollars
and independence
and kept respectability
to myself.
The sheep beat a track over the mountain,
And men, sheep-like, follow them.
Who is there with heart enough
To beat a track for himself?
Not the strongest.
Not the wisest.
Not the most proud.
I GREW single and sure,
And I will not endure
That my mind should be seen
By the sage or the boor.
I will keep, if I can.
From each brotherly man :
The help of their hands
Is no part of my plan.
I will rise then and go
To the land of my foe.
For his scowl is the sun
That shall cause me to grow.
There was a time when Mother Nature made
My soul's sun, and my soul's shade.
A cloud in the sky could take away
The song in my heart for all day,
And a little lark in a willow-tree
Would mean happiness to me.
My moods would mirror all her whims ;
Trees were my strength : their limbs, my limbs.
But, oh, my mother tortured me,
Blowing with wind, and sighing with sea.
I flamed, I withered, I blossomed, I sang,
With her I suffered pang for pang,
Until I said: "I will grow my own tree
Where no natural wind will bother me."
And I grew me a willow of my own heart's strength,
With my will for its width, and my wish for its length :
WHAT General has a good army in himself, has a good army;
He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy,
But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than you can beget or conceive a
child
by others.
I HAE a wife of my ain,
I’ll partake wi’ naebody;
I’ll take Cuckold frae nane,
I’ll gie Cuckold to naebody.
I hae a penny to spend,
There—thanks to naebody!
I hae naething to lend,
I’ll borrow frae naebody.
I am naebody’s lord,
I’ll be slave to naebody;
I hae a gude braid sword,
I’ll tak dunts frae naebody.
I’ll be merry and free,
I’ll be sad for naebody;
Naebody cares for me,
I care for naebody.