Lapsus Calami (Aug 1891)/The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger
For other versions of this work, see The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger.
The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger.
I am not ambitious at all:I am not a poet, I know(Though I do love to see a mere scrawlTo order and symmetry grow).My muse is uncertain and slow,I am not expert with my tools,I lack the poetic argot:But I hope I have kept to the rules.
When your brain is undoubtedly small,'Tis hard, sir, to write in a row,Some five or six rhymes to Nepaul,And more than a dozen to Joe:The metre is easier though,Three rhymes are sufficient for 'ghouls,'My lines are deficient in go,But I hope I have kept to the rules.
Unable to fly let me crawl,Your patronage kindly bestow:I am not the author of Saul,I am not Voltaire or Rousseau:I am not desirous, oh no!To rise from the ranks of the fools,To shine with Gosse, Dobson and Co.:But I hope I have kept to the rules.
Dear Sir, though my language is low,Let me dip in Pierian pools:My verses are only so so,But I hope I have kept to the rules.