From "Woman and Nature"

One small segment, though the vital heart, of the poetic prose masterpiece Woman and Nature by Susan Griffin, called "Lion in the Den of the Prophets":

She swaggers in. She is terrified of their white hairlessness. She waits, she watches, she does not move. She is measuring their moves. And they are measuring her. Cautiously one takes a bit of her fur. He cuts it free from her. He examines it. Another numbers her feet, her teeth, the length and width of her body. She yawns. They announce she is alive. They wonder what she will do if they enclose her in the room with them. One of them shuts the door. She backs her way toward the closed doorway and then roars. "Be still," the men say. She continues to roar. "Why does she roar?" they ask. The roaring must be inside her, they conclude. They decide they must see the roaring inside her. They approach her in a group, six at her two front legs, six at her two back legs. They are trying to put her to sleep. She swings at one of them. His own blood runs over him. "Why did she do that?" the men question. She has no soul, they conclude, she does not know right from wrong. "Be still," they shout at her. "Be humble, trust us," they demand. "We have souls," they proclaim, "we know what is right", they approach her with their medicine, "for you." She does not understand this language. She devours them.

--Go get the book Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her and read the rest of Susan Griffin's amazing metaphorical meanderings on the nature of woman. It's been a great way for me, being a man and all, to see what goes on in the consciousness of Woman. It should be required reading, in my opinion. Maybe then there wouldn't be so many cocky male a-holes in the world trying to show how powerful and dominant they are over people they feel are lesser than them.

Here are some more quotes from Susan Griffin.