To His Gadabout Wife
17th Century
Only three exits are becoming to every woman, big or small. The first is when she exits from the womb, dirtied, as if from a deep swamp. The second is when she exits from her woman’s tent and enters the home of her husband and lord. And the third is the day she is led to her grave. This is the finest exit of all.
While the translation is formatted as prose, the original is a poem of eight lines.
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