English poem
BALLAD. (Like a very gallant will I compliment…)
by Anonymous
Like a very gallant will I compliment all: I must leer at and ogle the pretty, Tell the short ones they're neat, and majestic the tall And call all the homely ones witty.
Thus agreeable falsehood still passing for truth, I shall tickle their vanity snugly, Talk of prudence to age, and of pleasure to youth, And console with a fortune the ugly.
To the pale I'll on delicate lilies begin, To the florid I'll hold forth on roses, Call squinting a leer, find a smile in a grin, And proportion where chins kiss with noses:
Thus agreeable falsehood still passing for truth, I'll their vanity tickle so snugly, That I'll please tall and short, fat and lean, ageand youth, And reconcile even the ugly.
More by Anonymous
- BALLAD. (Let bards elate)
- BALLAD. (Let bucks and let bloods to praise…)
- BALLAD. (Let sons of sloth dream time away)
- BALLAD. (LIFE's a jest, says the poet, arrah…)
- BALLAD. (Look fairly all the world around)
- BALLAD. (Lovely woman, pride of nature)
- BALLAD. (Madam, you know my trade is war)
- BALLAD. (Mankind all get drunk, ay and womankind…)