Classic Poem

CHASTE Bilia's husband, at a friendly feast,
Did unawares meet with a scornful jest,
They told him to his teeth, O man, thou hath,
A comely wife, but yet a stinking breath.
Then, all in tears, to Bilia home he goes,
And chides her thus, Fy, should you not disclose,
And warn me of that foul infirmity,
Which strangers, to my shame, cast up to me.
Dear heart, quoth she, that fault I no ways know,
Because I never kiss'd a man but you:
So, if thy breath was foul I could not tell,
Thinking that all men's breath had such a smell.