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Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900/The Shadow

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For works with similar titles, see The Shadow.
Ben Jonson25165Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900 — The Shadow1931Arthur Quiller-Couch
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,
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?