There is a certain Yankee phrase <br />I always have revered, <br />Yet, somehow, in these modern days, <br />It's almost disappeared; <br />It was the usage years ago, <br />But nowadays it's got <br />To be regarded coarse and low <br />To answer: 'I guess not!' <br /> <br />The height of fashion called the pink <br />Affects a British craze-- <br />Prefers 'I fancy' or 'I think' <br />To that time-honored phrase; <br />But here's a Yankee, if you please, <br />That brands the fashion rot, <br />And to all heresies like these <br />He answers, 'I--guess not!'-- <br /> <br />When Chaucer, Wycliff, and the rest <br />Express their meaning thus, <br />I guess, if not the very best, <br />It's good enough for us! <br />Why! shall the idioms of our speech <br />Be banished and forgot <br />For this vain trash which moderns teach? <br />Well, no, sir; I guess not! <br /> <br />There's meaning in that homely phrase <br />No other words express-- <br />No substitute therefor conveys <br />Such unobtrusive stress. <br />True Anglo-Saxon speech, it goes <br />Directly to the spot, <br />And he who hears it always knows <br />The worth of 'I--guess--not!'<br /><br />Eugene Field<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/guess-10/
