Recall her vices, not her virtues. Wi...

Recall her vices, not her virtues.

Wise men forget, remembering women's defects.

Don't picture her in elegant attire,

trim-waisted, raised aloft on high-heeled slippers.

That's all just architecture; don't you know

some wit once said that half a woman's beauty

was given her by whoever made her clothes?

It's as a penitent who's flogged himself

and been dragged off for treatment you must see her,

not prettified by expensive petticoats.

In short, think of her faults as love's true medicine;

for if remembering some disgusting thing

can put you off your food for weeks on end,

recalling, when she comes to mind, her defects

will take your lover's appetite away.

Lope de Vega. The Dog in the Manger. Trans. Victor Dixon. Carleton Renaissance Plays in Translation. Ottawa, Dovehouse Editions, 1990. pp. 49.