Not Fair

‘T IS very true, I thought you once as fair

As women in th’ idea are;*

Whatever here seems beauteous, seem’d to be

But a faint metaphor of thee:

But then, methoughts, there something shin’d within,

Which casts this lustre o’er thy skin;

Nor could I choose but count it the sun’s light,

Which made this cloud appear so bright.

But, since I knew thy falsehood and thy pride,

And all thy thousand faults beside,

A very Moor, methinks, plac’d near to thee,

White as his teeth would seem to be.

So men (they say) by hell’s delusions led,

Have ta’en a succubus to their bed;

Believe it fair, and themselves happy call,

Till the cleft foot discovers all:

Then they start from ‘t, half ghosts themselves with fear;

And devil, as ‘t is, doth appear.

So, since against my will I found thee foul,

Deform’d and crooked in thy soul,

My reason straight did to my senses shew,

That they might be mistaken too:

Nay, when the world but knows how false you are,

There’s not a man will think you fair;

Thy shape will monstrous in their fancies be,

They’ll call their eyes as false as thee.

Be what thou wilt, hate will present thee so,

As Puritans do the Pope, and Papists Luther do.

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External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Fragment – Wee Willie Gray (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Farewell to Eliza (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• On a Scotch Bard, gone to the West Indies by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Lament for James, Earl of Glencairn by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Impromptu on Dumourier’s Desertion of the French Republican Army by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Grace before and after Meat by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Epitaph for Robert Aiken by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Epistle to a Young Friend by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to Beelzebub by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Grace after Meat by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Dream by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Dedication to Gavin Hamilton by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Bard’s Epitaph by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Zion by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• You Must n’t Swim… by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• With Scindia to Delphi by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• Wilful Missing by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• White Horses by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• When the Great Ark by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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