The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
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| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
284
THE WOMANHOOD OF THE FUTURE
When woman understands her own pure soul;
When she no longer takes
Man's thought of her to guide her to the goal;
When she awakes;
When she no longer takes
Man's thought of her to guide her to the goal;
When she awakes;
When she once knows herself, the one pure thing
Upon an earth impure,
Then she will change man's nature, and will bring
Peace sweet and sure.
Upon an earth impure,
Then she will change man's nature, and will bring
Peace sweet and sure.
When she once knows herself—when she will be
True to her own pure heart,
Then she will clothe with radiant purity
All life and Art.
True to her own pure heart,
Then she will clothe with radiant purity
All life and Art.
The world will be transformed. It waits for this,
And it has waited long:
It waits for woman's perfect marriage-kiss
And nuptial song.
And it has waited long:
It waits for woman's perfect marriage-kiss
And nuptial song.
285
It waits till she arises in her strength
To bid all evil flee,
Saying, “Who would learn God's deepest truths at length,
Must learn of me.
To bid all evil flee,
Saying, “Who would learn God's deepest truths at length,
Must learn of me.
“For at the ending of the ages I,
Man's sister and man's queen,
Stand forth to bid all forms of evil fly
From our demesne.
Man's sister and man's queen,
Stand forth to bid all forms of evil fly
From our demesne.
“I come to make man pure as I am pure;
To bring delights unguessed;
Joy that shall vanish not, but shall endure;
Raptue and rest.
To bring delights unguessed;
Joy that shall vanish not, but shall endure;
Raptue and rest.
“For man, unless his heart be pure and true,
Must ever fail to see
The heart of that pure God who speaks his new
Gospel through me.
Must ever fail to see
The heart of that pure God who speaks his new
Gospel through me.
“Aye, to the pure in heart God's world is fair!
These see with perfect sight
How glorious is the summer sunlit air,
The rose how white!
These see with perfect sight
How glorious is the summer sunlit air,
The rose how white!
286
“These only can perceive the God who dwells
In woman, and take part
In that great movement which our age foretells
With brain and heart.
In woman, and take part
In that great movement which our age foretells
With brain and heart.
“Who seeth woman, shall see God. Who fails
To see and understand,
Shall fail to find God—though he spread wide sails
From land to land.”
To see and understand,
Shall fail to find God—though he spread wide sails
From land to land.”
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |