A WOMAN’S QUESTION
– by Lena Lathrop, 1934
You have asked for the most expensive things
Ever made by the Lord above;
A woman’s heart, and a woman’s life –
And a woman’s unfailing love.
Do you dare ask for these priceless things
As a child might ask for a toy?
Demanding what many would love to win
With the recklessness of a boy?
You have written down all my duties;
Man-like, you have questioned me:
Now stand at the bar of this woman’s soul
And allow me question thee….
You require your meals shall always be hot;
Your socks must never have holes;
I require your heart be true to Jesus my Lord
And pure as God’s heaven your soul.
You desire a cook for your bacon and eggs,
But I require a far greater thing;
A seamstress you need to mend your shirts:
I want a man who loves Jesus my King.
A godly man whose love is true
A man with a heavenly mood.
One who will look upon me as God did Eve
And say, “This is very good”.
Is your heart an ocean so strong and so deep
That I may cast all my care on its tide?
For a woman in love finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.
Today I am young, but the flower will fade
From my soft, rosy cheeks one day;
Will you love me then, in my Autumn of life
As you did in the blossoms of May?
I desire all things that are steadfst and true,
A man who from trials won’t flee.
If you give me all this, I will give you my life
And be all that you want me to be.
But if you cannot be this, you can hire a cook
And pay her for services rendered;
But the man who wins this Christian girl
Must be to Jesus surrendered.
Lena Lathrop, 1934