Unfortunate Soul

Oh Maddie, you unfortunate soul,

Triple-digit SAT and double-digit IQ,

Ignorance is far from bliss

How pitiful that your aspiration be that of a housewife

The fifties came and went, and along with them,

The belief that to your husband, you must succumb

This projection of mine comes from my own fear

Of mediocrity and subordination

Of apathy and idleness

Of indifference and satisfaction

With a life already lived a million times

This fear is the catalyst which propels me out of bed to work every day

Jefferson said that dependence begets subservience and venality

And without a free mind to think critically

I can never truly be independent,

And if I may not have a fulfilling, self-sufficient life

And be constrained to Maddie's servile soul,

Then I would rather have no life at all.