Her spirit is the spirit of repose.
Mankind shall hold her motherhood in awe:
Woman is she indeed, and not of those
That he with sacramental gold must draw
Discreetly to his chamber in the night,
Or bind to him with fetters of the law.
He holds her by a spiritual right.
With diamond and with pearl he need not sue;
Nor will she deck herself for his delight:
Beauty is the adornment of the true.
She shall possess for ornament and gem
A flower, the glowworm, or the drop of dew:
More innocently fair than all of them,
It will not even shame her if she make
A coronal of stars her diadem.
Though she is but a vision, I can take
Courage from her. I feel her arrowy beam
Already, for her spirit is awake,
And passes down the future like a gleam,—
Thus have I made the woman of my dream.
Harold Monro [1879-1932]