GUIDE, PHILOSOPHER, BUT FRIEND
_If that these vagrant verses make
One heart more glad; if they but bring
A single smile, for that One's sake
I should be satisfied to sing.
As Locker said, in phrasing fitter,
Pleased if but One should like the twitter.
If I have eased one heart of pain;
If I have made one throb or thrill;
My labour has not been in vain.
My work has not been all for nil,
If only One, from Maine to Kansas,
Shall say "I like his simple stanzas."
If but a solitary voice
Should say "These verses polyglot
Are not so bad," I should rejoice;
But oh, my publishers would not!
* * * * *
And I, though shy and unanointed,
Should be a little disappointed._
