Poetry Archives

(”No brass bands. No speeches. Instead a still, silent, effective
influence.”—Anti-suffrage speech.)


We are waging—can you doubt it?
  A campaign so calm and still
No one knows a thing about it,
  And we hope they never will.
    No one knows
    What we oppose,
  And we hope they never will.

We are ladylike and quiet,
  Here a whisper—there a hint;
Never speeches, bands or riot,
  Nothing suitable for print.
    No one knows
    What we oppose,
  For we never speak for print.

Sometimes in profound seclusion,
  In some far (but homelike) spot,
We will make a dark allusion:
  “We’re opposed to you-know-what.”
    No one knows
    What we oppose,
  For we call it “You-Know-What.”