Woman Lyrics - Original Broadway Cast

[GRANIA] 

Woman I am born 

What does "woman" mean? 

Must my dreams face scorn 

Held back and unseen 

If I long for fire 

Must it stay unreal? 

Can I not desire? 

Am I not to feel? 

If I ache to taste 

Am I not to try? 

If my heart says sail 

Why should I deny? 

I have my dreams 

I have made plans 

I see horizons wide as a man's 

Must I be nothing till I'm some man's wife? 

Look at this face 

Does it deceive? 

Do I look made to milk and to weave? 

I will be damned to Hell if that is my life! 

[GRANIA] (spoken) Blasphemy--I know, forgive me! But I won't take it back! I won't! 

[TIERNAN] (spoken) I understand you! Somehow I never pictured you knitting. 

[GRANIA] 

I'm almost your age, 

I'm your match in size, 

I'm as skilled with swords 

And equal in most eyes 

But when you have a dream 

And you're caught in its grip 

You can climb aboard a ship 

You can - 

You can for you're a man! 

You can reach toward that place 

Where the earth meets the sky 

Fight a battle be brave, be true 

If you can do it, why not I? 

I'm meant to fly 

Sail unrestrained 

Why is man free and woman chained? 

Is that my epitaph before I die? 

I should be free 

Free to be Grace 

So I can feel the wind on my face! 

And when life beckons, I should go 

Face out the storm, not stay below 

Am I to be just woman? No! Not I!