PRETENSION

Pretension is a kind of velvet cloak

I wear to hide my real self from view,

And yet where'er I meet with other folk

I always find they wear this garment too.

Pretension is a kind of golden veil

Behind whose mesh I seek to hide my face,

And yet where'er I go I never fail

To see that others wear it too with grace.

Pretension is a thing I say I hate

In both myself and in my dearest friend,

And yet whene'er I slyly watch and wait

I find in some regard we all pretend.

—Ernest Powell.

Where there is much pretension, much has been borrowed: Nature never pretends.—Lavater.

When half-gods go, the gods arrive.—Emerson.