Versos English Alice Duer Miller A Modern Proposal

English poem

A Modern Proposal

by (1874–1942)

Listen in the reader

Sylvia, my dear, I would be yours with pleasure, All that you are seems excellent to me, Except your mother, who's much more at leisure Than mothers ought to be.

Find her a fad, a job, an occupation, Eugenics, dancing, uplift, yes, or crime, Set her to work for her Emancipation— That takes a lot of time.

Or, if the suffrage doctrine fails to charm her, There are the Antis—rather in her line— Guarding the Home from Maine to Alabama Would keep her out of mine.