Poem: "The Philosopher's Scales", by Jane Taylor

[teenybuffalo]

Here's Jane Taylor on perceived worth versus true worth.  I was surprised to discover that she also wrote "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

The Philosopher's Scales
By Jane Taylor

A monk, when his rites sacerdotal were o’er,
In the depth of his cell with his stone-covered floor,
Resigning to thought his chimerical brain,
Once formed the contrivance we now

Comments

[teenybuffalo]

Something religious. Not being raised Christian, I forget what; probably the human soul, or some virtue like charity. Mom would know--she's the most Methodist atheist in the world.

A lord and a lady went up at full sail,
When a bee chanced to light on the opposite scale;
Ten doctors, ten lawyers, two courtiers, one earl,
Ten counsellors’ wigs, full of powder and curl,
All heaped in one balance and swinging from thence,
Weighed less than a few grains of candor and sense;
A first-water diamond, with brilliants begirt,
Than one good potato just washed from the dirt;

...were the lines that made me think you'd like it.