Pursue your task, till, like a shrub, you grow it,

Up to the standard size it ought to be;

You need not be an atom of a poet.

Clear it of weeds, and water it, and hoe it,

Then watch it blossom with triumphant glee,

It’s all a trick, quite easy when you know it,

You need not be an atom of a poet.

Walter W. Skeat.

The Academy. May 19, 1888.

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