Brief glories ‘round you!

Nina, I would go

Like any brazen bawd along the street,

Hailing the first stout carter I should meet,

Ere I would perish childless! Though we nurse

The cooing thing that some day hurls the curse,

Forge from our hearts the matricidal sword,

The act of loving is its own reward.

We mothers need no pity!

‘Twill be said,