Mystic Books we Must see Reveal’d
Full nakedness ! All joys are due to thee ;
As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be
To taste whole joys. Gems which you women use
Are like Atlanta’s ball cast in men’s views ;
That, when a fool’s eye lighteth on a gem,
His earthly soul might court that, not them.
Like pictures, or like books’ gay coverings made
For laymen, are all women thus array’d.
Themselves are only mystic books, which we
-Whom their imputed grace will dignify-
Must see reveal’d.
from ELEGY XX. TO HIS MISTRESS GOING TO BED by John Donne
Goya Nude and Clothed Majas. La maja desnuda; La maja vestida
