II

The naked things

Are most sublime, and brightest show,

When they alone are seen:

Men's hands than Angels' wings

Are truer wealth even here below:

For those but seem.

Their worth they then do best reveal,

When we all metaphors remove,

For metaphors conceal,

And only vapours prove.

They best are blazon'd when we see

The anatomy,

Survey the skin, cut up the flesh, the veins

Unfold: the glory there remains:

The muscles, fibres, arteries, and bones

Are better far than crowns and precious stones.