Was lispt about the acacias, and a bird
That early woke to feed her little ones
Sent from a dewy breast a cry for light:

She moved, and at her feet the volume fell.

'Blame not thyself too much,' I said, nor blame Too much the sons of men and barbarous laws; These were the rough ways of the world till now. Henceforth thou hast a helper, me, that know The woman's cause is man's: they rise or sink Together, dwarf'd or godlike, bond or free:

For she that out of Lethe scales with man

The shining steps of Nature, shares with man

His nights, his days, moves with him to one goal,
Stays all the fair young planet in her hands-

If she be small, slight-natured, miserable,

How shall men grow? We two will serve them both

In aiding her, strip off, as in us lies,

(Our place is much) the parasitic forms

That seem to keep her up, but drag her down

Will leave her field to burgeon and to bloom

From all within her, make herself her own

To give or keep, to live and learn and be

All that not harms distinctive womanhood.

For woman is not undevelopt man,

But diverse could we make her as the man,

Sweet love were slain, whose dearest bond is this

Not like to like, but like in difference:

Yet in the long years liker must they grow;

The man be more of woman, she of man ;

He gain in sweetness and in moral height,

Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world; She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care:

More as the double-natured Poet each:

Till at the last she set herself to man,

Like perfect music unto noble words;

And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time,

Sit side by side, full-summ'd in all their powers,

Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be,

Self-reverent each and reverencing each,

Distinct in individualities,

But like each other ev'n as those who love.

Then comes the statelier Eden back to men:

Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm : Then springs the crowning race of humankind.

In our own lives, and this proud watchword rest

Of equal; seeing either sex alone

Is half itself, and in true marriage lies

Nor equal, nor unequal: each fulfils

Defect in each, and always thought in thought,

Purpose in purpose, will in will, they grow,

The single pure and perfect animal,

The two-cell'd heart, beating with one full stroke
Life.'

And again sighing she spoke: A dream

That once was mine! what woman taught you this?'

'Alone,' I said, 'from earlier than I know, Immersed in rich foreshadowings of the world,

I loved the woman: he, that doth not, lives

A drowning life, besotted in sweet self,
Or pines in sad experience worse than death,
Or keeps his wing'd affections clipt with crime:
Yet was there one thro' whom I loved her, one
Not learned, save in gracious household ways,
Not perfect, nay, but full of tender wants,

No Angel, but a dearer being, all dipt

In Angel instincts, breathing Paradise,

Interpreter between the Gods and men,
Who look'd all native to her place, and yet
On tiptoe seem'd to touch upon a sphere

Too gross to tread, and all male minds perforce
Sway'd to her from their orbits as they moved
And girdled her with music. Happy he

With such a mother! faith in womankind

Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high

Comes easy to him, and tho' he trip and fall,

He shall not blind his soul with clay.'

Said Ida, 'so unlike, so all unlike

'But I,'

It seems you love to cheat yourself with words:

This mother is your model. Never, Prince ;

You cannot love me.'

'Nay but thee,' I said,

'From yearlong poring on thy pictured eyes,

Or some mysterious or magnetic touch,

Ere seen I loved, and loved thee seen,

and saw

Thee woman thro' the crust of iron moods

That mask'd thee from men's reverence up, and forced

Sweet love on pranks of saucy boyhood: now

Giv'n back to life, to life indeed, thro' thee

Indeed I love the new day comes, the light

Dearer for night, as dearer thou for faults

Lived over lift thine eyes; doubt me no more;
Look up and let thy nature strike on mine
Like yonder morning on the blind half-world;

Approach and fear not; breathe upon my brows;