For Women Who Are 'Difficult' to Love Summary

The poem starts with a woman's boyfriend claiming that she is too wild for him, but also that he cannot imagine being without her. He is simultaneously afraid of her and unable to be parted from her. He also says that he cannot live up to the ideal of a man that she carries in her mind. The speaker says that the woman did try to change, dialing back her self-expression, but she could always tell it would make no difference, ultimately. The speaker then validates the woman's "difficult" qualities, stating that people cannot be made into "homes" and that if her partner chooses to leave, she should let him, as she is a force to be reckoned with as she is.