The Shadow

By Ben Jonson

1573-1637


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,
         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.
         Say, are not women truly, then,
         Styled but the shadows of us men?

DayPoems Poem No. 188
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/188.html">The Shadow by Ben Jonson</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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