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C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

To a Lady who Wished to Behold Marot

By Clément Marot (1496–1544)

BEFORE she saw me, reading in my book,

She loved me; then she wished to see my face:

Now she has seen me, gray, and swart of look,

Yet none the less remain I in her grace.

O gentle heart, maiden of worthy race,

You do not err: for this my body frail,

It is not I; naught is it but my jail:

And in the writings that you once did read,

Your lovely eyes—so may the truth avail—

Saw me more truly than just now, indeed.