'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd, When not to be receives reproach of being, And the just pleasure lost which is so deem'd Not by our feeling but by others' seeing: For why should others false adulterate eyes Give salutation to my sportive blood? Or on my frailties why are frailer spies, Which in their wills count bad what I think good? No, I am that I am, and they that level At my abuses reckon up their own: I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel; By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown; Unless this general evil they maintain, All men are bad, and in their badness reign. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...KATHMANDU GUEST HOUSE by KAREN SWENSON WHEN DE CO'N PONE'S HOT by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR PAST AND PRESENT by ROWLAND EYLES EGERTON-WARBURTON DELIGHT IN DISORDER by ROBERT HERRICK ADAM'S CURSE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE IMAGE OF GOD by FRANCISCO DE ALDANA THE SECOND DAYES LAMENTATION OF THE AFFECTIONATE SHEPHEARD by RICHARD BARNFIELD |