Explore "Not Having an Upright Father" by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Which provides a proud man with the eyewash he deserves
3 Eyewash or collyrium, a traditional treatment for diseases of the eye. The implication is that the man needs to be cured of the ailment that allows him to see other people's defects, but not his own.
Not having an upright father / would be a defect, in my eyes, / if I had chosen him, as I / received my being from him.
Your mother was more merciful, / for she made you heir of many, / so that among them all, you can / take the one who suits you best.
4 Sor Juana was born out of wedlock. The epigram seems to be a response to someone who criticized her for her birth.