The poem is personal and conversational in tone. Here, being racially discriminated Afro-American woman, she shows how her lover proposed his love seriously and sentimentally. Her lover seems to be an emotionally half-baked love-sick guy. She knows very well that soon one day he will leave her and forget her. So, she takes his words lightly. True love implies freedom, not slavery in the name of possessiveness. So, she did not chain him like a dog. She did not want his soul but respected his love and feelings. Some days before, the lover, being a white American proposed the poet, a black woman. He was so sentimental then and even gifted his soul to her. Now, out of some misunderstanding, he boils with anger and wants his soul back. It is actually he who proposed her first. But now he says that she is so greedy enough to love such a high-class American. These lines reveal that love that expects, gets disappointed and disappears is not at all true love. The poem is simply an awakening reply by a ladylove to her angry lover. The lover wants his gifted soul back. The ladylove replies that he has always kept his soul with him and his act of gifting her his soul is only a child’s play. He thought he loved her but really didn’t. Thoughts appear in the head, but true love feelings arise from heart. He gave his thought to her as if giving a precious object just to keep it safe. Now he wants his thing back as it is. The ladylove means that he never loved her at all. The lover was emotional, sentimental, egoistic and narrow-minded. So, the lady said that he held his soul tightly in such a way that it started shrinking to fit his hand, like a sponge. It is a witty reply by the lady that the lover would never love any girl in his life truly. He is actually selfish, but he calls her a possessive lady. The poet implies that true love should expand the soul rather shrinking to hand's size.
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