Ben Jonson
 
 
T  H  E     F  O  R  E  S  T . 
 

VII. — SONG. — THAT WOMEN ARE BUT MEN'S
SHADOWS. 


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
Styl'd 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,
Styl'd but the shadows of us men ?



 

Source:
Jonson, Ben.  The Works of Ben Jonson.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co., 1853. 803.


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