Here is a feminist fantasy poem by Elinor Wylie, who was an American poet
who died (young) in 1928. I'm posting it because it just came out of copyright,
and because I really like this poem.
Enchanter's Handmaiden
by Elinor Wylie
Sir, it was not commanding me to climb
The glassy hill, or wring the bloody shirt;
Such tasks are done in seven years' weary time
And the performer takes no mortal hurt.
(O, but it was giving me a netful of eels to turn into venison pasty!)
It was not asking me to hold the brand
White from the smithy, or receive the lash
Across my weeping; these to burn the hand
And brow with different sort of lightning flash.
(No, but it was leaving me a stableful of straw to spin into golden mittens!)
It was not even nailing down my wrists
And ankles to a wheel in cruciform;
I know your mills require many grists,
And each but grinds subsistence for the worm.
(O, but it was making me suckle an imp after promising he was a Christian!)