MEN CALL YOU FAIR

by: Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)

EN call you fayre, and you doe credit it,

For that your self ye daily such doe see:

But the trew fayre, that is the gentle wit,

And vertuous mind, is much more praysd of me.

For all the rest, how ever fayre it be,

Shall turne to nought and loose that glorious hew:

But onely that is permanent and free

From frayle corruption, that doth flesh ensew.

That is true beautie: that doth argue you

To be divine and borne of heavenly seed:

Deriv'd from that fayre Spirit, from whom al true

And perfect beauty did at first proceed.

He onely fayre, and what he fayre hath made,

All other fayre lyke flowres untymely fade.

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