To One who asked why he wrote it. <br /> <br />You ask me what was his intent? <br />In truth, I'm not a German; <br />'Tis plain though that he neither meant <br />A Lecture nor a Sermon. <br /> <br />But there it is,--the thing's a Fact. <br />I find no other reason <br />But that some scribbling itch attacked <br />Him in and out of season, <br /> <br />To write what no one else should read, <br />With this for second meaning, <br />To 'cleanse his bosom' (and indeed <br />It sometimes wanted cleaning); <br /> <br />To speak, as 'twere, his private mind, <br />Unhindered by repression, <br />To make his motley life a kind, <br />Of Midas' ears confession; <br /> <br />And thus outgrew this work _per se_,-- <br />This queer, kaleidoscopic, <br />Delightful, blabbing, vivid, free <br />Hotch-pot of daily topic. <br /> <br />So artless in its vanity, <br />So fleeting, so eternal, <br />So packed with 'poor Humanity'-- <br />We know as Pepys' his journal.<br /><br />Henry Austin Dobson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-pepys-diary/
