Page:Poems by Frances Fuller Victor.djvu/64

 I brought you beauty—but your boys invade

My woman's realm of love with girlish airs;

I brought high gifts, and powers to persuade,

To charm, to teach, with your philosophers.

But knowledge is man's realm alone, you hold,

And I who am your equal am cast down

Level with those who sell themselves for gold—

A crownless queen—a woman of the town.

Ye vain Athenians, know this, that I

By your hard laws am only made more free;

Your unloved dames may sit at home and cry,

But, being unwed, I meet you openly,

A foreigner, you cannot wed with me;

But I can win your hearts and sway your will,

And make your free wives envious to see

What power Aspasia wields, Milesian still.

Who would not be beloved of Pericles?

I could have had all Athens at my feet,

And have them for my flatterers, when I please,

Yet, one great man's great love is far more sweet

He is my proper mate as I am his—

You see my young dreams were not all in vain—

And I have tasted of ineffable bliss,

If I am stung at times with fiery pain.

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