I sit by roadsides, a naked dame
Exhibited ‘neath glaring lights of city streets —
Undressed, disrobed, a broad without a name
For nameless men devoid of love, with passing needs
To come unthinking, and go satisfied away.

You who gave me birth, you did to me proclaim
That all my beauty in this body lies
But ought I not have some delicate array
Some comely threads lest this tender silkened skin —
These precious treasures be reason for my shame.

Where I ask, is mystery, where the intrigue
Men there are, but who will take me seriously to wife
Bring me home, and on a nuptial bed
Each thread of verse remove with trembling hands
With bated breath, and a lover’s pledge.