As Balzac, who could drudge so gaily,
Or diligent as Peter Dunne,
I might accomplish daily
An ode of Pleasure or of Passion
In Ella Wheeler Wilcox fashion;
But, as it is, I sit and toil,
Consuming time and ink and curses
And pints of precious midnight oil
To perpetrate these verses.
If writing them be dull indeed,