STILL TO BE NEAT: POEM BY BEN JOHNSON

STILL TO BE NEAT

Still to be neat, still to be drest
As you are going to a feast;
Still to be powder'd, still perfum'd;
Lady it is to be presum'd,
Though art's hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Give me a look, give me a face
That makes simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
Such sweet neglect more taketh me
Than all th' adulteries of art;
They strike my eyes but not my heart.

Ben Johnson