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Howard Nemerov - Young Woman
Work rating: Low

Naked before the glass she said, 
“I see my body as no man has, 
Nor any shall unless I wed 
And naked in a stranger’s house 
Stand timid beside his bed. 
There is no pity in the flesh.” 


“Or else I shall grow old,” she said, 
“Alone, and change my likeliness 
For a vile, slack shape, a head 
Shriveled with thinking wickedness 
Against the day I must be dead 
And eaten by my crabbed wish.” 


“One or the other way,” she said, 
“How shall I know the difference, 
When wrinkles come, to spinster or bride? 
Whether to marry or burn is bless- 
ed best, O stranger to my bed, 
There is no pity in the flesh.”
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