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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  187. The Shadow

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Ben Jonson. 1573–1637

187. The Shadow

FOLLOW a shadow, it still flies you; 
  Seem to fly it, it will pursue: 
So court a mistress, she denies you; 
  Let her alone, she will court you. 
    Say, are not women truly, then,         5
    Styled but the shadows of us men? 
 
At morn and even, shades are longest; 
  At noon they are or short or none: 
So men at weakest, they are strongest, 
  But grant us perfect, they’re not known.  10
    Say, are not women truly, then, 
    Styled but the shadows of us men?