O Perfect Woman, what a joy to me
To be a Woman, and to stand by thee
As one of thine own sex. For lo, I see
The Perfect Creature thou alone mayst be
Of all within the human family:
For thou art only Woman. Perfectly
Art thou the Glass of Womanhood: in thee
All that is sweet in our humanity,
All that is gracious out of Deity,
All that is faithful, noble, pure, we see.
Mary, we do not look for aught in thee
Beyond the scope of Womanhood. In thee,
Woman's vocation all complete we see.
The Perfect Mother; also, perfectly
The type of Help-mate we shall find in thee.
But oh, how speak of this? For was not He
More than a Man through His Divinity?
Perfect in Manhood, perfect Godhead, see
A Body and a Soul in sympathy,
United in a Person of the Deity?
Such is the Man; the Man who willed to be
The New Creation in Humanity.
Such was the Man, O Woman, who with thee
Made up the Mirror of our entity -
Thou the Companion; but the Master, He.
The Way He leads, but not unwilled by thee -
A Way of sorrow and of mystery;
A Way in which He moveth fearlessly,
Thou by His side, whose tender sympathy
Surmounteth pain and sorrow, prayerfully.
As Man He works, and in Him Deity
Must lay aside its awful Majesty,
Must seem to slumber; for in Him shall be,
As Man, the force to conquer destiny -
And Man, the work to perfect, needeth thee.
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote