Woman to Man

existence tense intimate

Woman to Man - meaning Summary

Pregnancy as Shared Creation

Judith Wright's Woman to Man presents pregnancy as a living, ambiguous third presence arising from a sexual union. The speaker addresses her partner, describing the unborn as both maker and made, blind and nameless yet potent. The poem balances awe and fear, stressing bodily connection and shared responsibility as the couple confronts an unknown life. Tone mixes tenderness with existential questioning.

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The eyeless labourer in the night the selfless, shapeless seed I hold, builds for its resurrection day- silent and swift and deep from sight foresees the unimagined light. This is no child with a child's face; this has no name to name it by; yet you and I have known it well. this is the hunter and our chase, the third who lay in our embrace. This is the strength that your arm knows, the arc of flesh that is my breast, the precise crystals of our eyes. This is the blood's wild tree that grows the intricate and folded rose. This is the maker and the made; this is the question and reply; the blind head butting at the dark, the blaze of light along the blade. Oh hold me, for I am afraid.