The virgins
The vessels
The weaker vessels
From their belly
We are born
Through their cuddling
We are weaned
…for life
By their caresses
We are sworn
…into life
The wives
The mothers
The grandmothers
At their nipples
We are breast-fed
On their laps
We are spoon-fed
In their bosom
We are nursed
If we blossom
They are blessed
The maidens
The lasses
The damsels
The ladies
What they need
We must search to find
What they want
We must run to search to find
When they say no
They mean yes
When they say yes
They need more
They say, “I do”
When they mean, “Yes I don’t”
“Oh stop it, I like it”
The beauties
The queens
The fair species
Near whom
We are warm
Far from whom
We are groping worms
When they are weak
We are strong
When they are strong
Then we must run along
The spinster
Thinks
So lonely
So unsure
So lost
So desperate
The wedded
Feels
So honoured
So secure
So bossy
So liberated
The divorced
Counts her blessings
“If I had not left him…”
Curses her stars
“If only he had not left me…”
The feminine
The female
The woman
Without whom
We are incomplete
…a missing rib
With whom
We have a complete complement
…a fitting rib
The bride
The spouse
The mate
The better half
Beside whom
We get the other half
Aside from whom
We are only a half
The miss
The missus
The madam
When they walk behind us
We are successful captains
When they walk in the lead
We are sucklings sulking ruefully
At our death
They are endowed widows
At their death
We are orphaned widowers
