Sept 4

The faults of Man…

Advice to a Girl by

Thomas Campion

Never love unless you can

Bear with all the faults of man!

Men sometimes will jealous be

Though but little cause they see,

And hang the head as discontent,

And speak what straight they will repent.

Men, that but one Saint adore,

Make a show of love to more;

Beauty must be scorned in none,

Though but truly served in one:

For what is courtship but disguise?

True hearts may have dissembling eyes.

Men, when their affairs require,

Must awhile themselves retire;

Sometimes hunt, and sometimes hawk,

And not ever sit and talk:

If these and such-like you can bear,

Then like, and love, and never fear!

 
“Advice to a Girl” by Thomas Campion. Public Domain.

Who’s angry at the writer?

design by Katerina Babanofsky

My family members
get incensed by my
poems, photos, and anecdotes,
used without permission.

What I saw was
extraordinary beauty,
extreme honesty,
divine insight.

The publication
does not bring fame
to me or them.

It is a gallery,
a record of a telling moment.

Just like “Spoon River Anthology”
was a gallery
for Edgar Lee Masters.

The Illinois characters
based on the tombstones
made those town’s people angry too.

Did the best-selling book
make them jealous?
Or were they upset
at the mention of their names?
Was Masters a grave digger?

Am I a property thief?