A simple strolling minstrel's chance to try,

But no great laurels so far hast thou won.

In circles of prosaic breathing mortals

No praise was given thee of any kind--

Where formal stiffness bars life's glowing portals,

Thou and thy kindred can no quarter find.

And in the coteries of hoops and laces

Few were the readers, fewer still the praises.

Not everything suits everyone: the hill

Grows different flowers than the vale and lea: