The Lady's Maid Song

When Adam found his rib was gone

He cursed and sighed and cried and swore,

And looked with cold resentment on

The creature God had used it for.

All love's delight were quickly spent,

And soon his sorrows multiplied;

He learnt to blame his discontent

On something stolen from his side.

And in every age we find

Each Jack destroying every Joan,

Divides and conquers woman kind

In vengence for the missing bone;

By day he spins out quaint conceits

With gossip, flattery and song

And then at night between the sheets

He wrongs the girl to right the wrong.

Though shoulder, bosom, lips and knee

Are praised in every kind of art,

Here in Love's true anatomy;

His rib is gone: He'll have her heart.

So women bear the debt alone

And live eternally distressed

For though we throw the dog his bone,

He wants it back with interest.

~John Hollander