A Woman�s Question  by Lena Lathrop

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Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the Hand above?
A woman�s heart. and a woman�s life�
And a woman�s wonderful love.

You have written my lesson of duty out;
Manlike, you have questioned me.
Now stand at the bar of my woman�s soul
Until I shall question thee.

You require your mutton shall be always hot,
Your socks and your shirt be whole;
I require your heart to be true as God�s tars
And as pure as His heaven your soul.

A king for the beautiful realm called Home,
And a man that his Maker, god,
Shall look upon as he did on the first
And say: �It is very good.�

I am fair and young, but the rose may fade
From my soft young cheek one day;
Will you love me then �mid the falling leaves,
And you did �mong the blossoms of May?

Is your heart an ocean so strong and deep,
I may launch my all on its tide?
A loving woman finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.

I require all things that are grand and true,
All things that a man should be;
If you give this all, I would stake my life
To be all you demand of me.

If you cannot be this, a laundress and a cook
You can hire and little to pay;
But a woman�s heart and a woman�s life
Are not to be won that way.
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