Talk:Lapsus Calami (Apr 1891)/The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger
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[edit]The poem appears on pp. 69–70 of the first edition of Lapsus Calami. The original publication in The Reflector (5 February 1888) can be found at Google Books. The title there is given as "Ballade of the Incompetent Ballademonger" and the author as "Q.T.J." The text is as follows:
I am not ambitious at all;
I am not a poet I know,
(Though I do love to see a mere scrawl
To order and symmetry grow).
My muse is uncertain and slow,
I lack the poetic argot,
I am not expert with my tools,
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,
Nor am I Voltaire or Rousseau.
I am not desirous, oh no!
To rise from the ranks of the fools,
To shine with Gosse, Dobson, & 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.