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