In your garb and outward clothing <br />A reservëd plainness use; <br />By their neatness more distinguished <br />Than the brightness of their hues. <br /> <br /> <br />All the colours in the rainbow <br />Serve to spread the peacock's train; <br />Half the lustre of his feathers <br />Would turn twenty coxcombs vain. <br /> <br /> <br />Yet the swan that swims in rivers, <br />Pleases the judicious sight; <br />Who, of brighter colours heedless, <br />Trusts alone to simple white. <br /> <br /> <br />Yet all other hues, comparëd <br />With his whiteness, show amiss; <br />And the peacock's coat of colours <br />Like a fool's coat looks by his.<br /><br />Charles Lamb<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/neatness-in-apparel/
