Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WHY TRUTH GOES NAKED, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHY TRUTH GOES NAKED, by                    
First Line: List to a tale well worth the ear
Last Line: As naked as a marble goddess
Subject(s): Nudity;truth; Nakedness


LIST to a tale well worth the ear
Of all who wit and sense admire;
Invented, it is very clear,
Some ages prior to Matthew Prior.
Falsehood and Truth "upon a time,"
One day in June's delicious weather
('T was in a distant age and clime),
Like sisters, took a walk together.
On, on their pretty way they took
Through fragrant wood and verdant meadow,
To where a beech beside a brook
Invited rest beneath its shadow.
There, sitting in the pleasant shade
Upon the margin's grassy matting
(A velvet cushion ready made),
The young companions fell to chatting.
Now, while in voluble discourse
On this and that their tongues were running,
As habit bids each speak -- perforce,
The one is frank, the other cunning;
Falsehood, at length, impatient grown
With scandals of her own creation,
Said, "Since we two are quite alone,
And nicely screened from observation,
Suppose in this delightful rill,
While all around is so propitious,
We take a bath?" Said Truth, "I will --
A bath, I'm sure, will be delicious!"
At this her robe she cast aside,
And in the stream that ran before her
She plunged -- like Ocean's happy bride --
As naked as her mother bore her!
Falsehood at leisure now undressed,
Put off the robes her limbs that hamper,
And having donned Truth's snow-white vest,
Ran off as fast as she could scamper.
Since then the subtle maid, in sooth,
Expert in lies and shrewd evasions,
Has borne the honest name of Truth,
And wears her clothes on all occasions.
While Truth, disdaining to appear
In Falsehood's petticoat and bodice,
Still braves all eyes from year to year
As naked as a marble goddess.





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