Do you come to me to bend me to your will
 as conqueror to the vanquished
 to make of me a bondslave
 to bear you children, wearing out my life
 in drudgery and silence
 no servant will i be
 if that be what you ask. O lover i refuse you!

Or if you think to wed with one from heaven sent
 whose every deed and word and wish is golden
 a wingless angel who can do no wrong
 go! - i am no doll to dress and sit for feeble worship
 if that be what you ask, fool, i refuse you!
 Or if you think in me to find
 a creature who will have no greater joy
 than gratify your clamorous desire,
 my skin soft only for your fond caresses
 my body supple only for your sense delight.
 Oh shame, and pity and abasement.
 Not for you the hand of any wakened woman of our time.

But lover, if you ask of me
 that i shall be your comrade, friend, and mate,
 to live and work, to love and die with you,
 that so together we may know the purity and height
 of passion, and of joy and sorrow,
 then o husband, i am yours forever
 and our co-equal love will make the stars to laugh with joy
 and to its circling fugue pass, hand holding hand
 until we reach the very heart of god.