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No doubt, some among you have been oppressed,
When you were still young, under- and/or of age,
And had eventually worked without earning any wage.
Whoever had occasioned you some sort of damage,
Being determined to keep you under his tutelage
Had behaved not like a gentleman, but like a savage.
He feels, for all the harm done to you, no remorse.
If you refuse him only once sexual intercourse.
Or if things don't go as he pleases, he uses force.
If you challenge him, he threatens you with divorce.
That is what he deems he must do as a last recourse.
He bores you stiff, repeating always the same discourse.
It is never his fault; you get all the blame and the curse.
All you can do is let things take their own course.
Being so wise, you sure don't want to make things worse.
He is lost without you; you are his whole life, his source.
He wants you, altogether, as a wife, a maid and a nurse.
Yet he regards you just as a plaything, a precious toy
He holds for a while with great pleasure and joy.
Then it ends as a nuisance to get rid of, to destroy,
Thus behaving immaturely, like a brat, a spoiled boy.
He may fancy he is Paris, and you his Helen of Troy.
And because of having published some silly little book,
He identifies himself with a great writer such as Tolstoy.
You live in different worlds; you have nothing in common.
He admits it only when it is too late, as a good reason,
To get rid of you, after squeezing you just like a lemon.
One day he behaves like a clergyman, preaching a sermon.
Another day he acts as if he were possessed with a demon.
It is the same whether or not he had his communion,
He is just like everybody. He is one of a million.
Yet you are able to form about of him no opinion.
He changes all the time; he is just like a chameleon.
The minute you finish saying he is blue; he turns yellow.
Besides, he may boast he is knowledgeable; but he is hollow.
You may get the impression that he is deep, but he is shallow.
He says he’s courageous, when he’s afraid of his own shadow.
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