By oceans and rivers and barefoot,
We opened our eyes.  We grew brown.
Why did we turn from the water?
When did we find we had grown?
When did we grow up by growing
Into the halls of tall stone?

Miranda, Ophelia, my sisters—
Motherless daughters of men—
How did we learn our inheritance
Would be this untrodden silk hem?

Why did we turn from the water?
When did we find we had grown?
How could it have turned out that water
Was only a place we could drown?

Miranda, Ophelia, my sisters—
Motherless daughters of men—
By oceans and rivers and barefoot,
We opened our eyes.  We grew brown.
When did we grow up by growing
Into the halls of tall stone?