The Female of the Species

When the Himallayan peasent meets the he-bear in his pride
He shouts to scare the monster who will often turn aside
But the she-bear thus accosted wrends the peasent tooth and nail

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male

When Nog, the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male

When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Heurons and Chaktaws
They prayed to be delivered from the vengence of the sqaws
Twas the women not the warriors turn those stark enthusiasts pale

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male

Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say
For the woman that god gave him isn't his to give away
But when hunter meets with husband, each confirms the other's tale

That the female of his species is more deadly than the male

She who faces death by turture for each life beneith her breast
May not deal in dought or pity, must not swerve or fact or jest
These are purely male diversions, not in these her honor dwells
She, the other law they live by is that law and nothing else

Unprovoked and off her charges, even so the she-bear fights
Speech that trips, coorodes or poisons, even so the cobra bites
Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish like the Jesuit with the squaw

So it comes that man, the coward when he gathers to confer-
With his fellow braves in council dare not leave a place for her
While at war with life and conciounce, he uplifts his erring hands
To some god of abstract justice that no woman understands

And man knows it- knows more over that the woman that god gave him
Must command but may not govern, shall enthrall but not enslave him
And she knows because she warns him and her instincts never fail

That the female of her species is more deadly than the male