I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.
I understand the large hearts of heroes,
The courage of present times and all times,
How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steamship,
and Death chasing it up and down the storm,
How he knuckled tight and gave not back an inch and was faithful of
days and faithful of nights,
And chalked in large letters on a board, "_Be of good cheer, we will
not desert you_";
How he followed with them and tack'd with them three days and would
not give it up,
How he saved the drifting company at last,
How the lank loose-gown'd women looked when boated from the side
of their prepared graves,
How the silent old-faced infants and the lifted sick, and the
sharp-lipp'd unshaved men;
All this I swallow, it tastes good, I like it well, it becomes mine,
I am the man, I suffered, I was there.
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