"Cut off my head, and you will quickly see

Something disliked by you and me;

Cut off my tail, and then it is clear

The past of a verb will quickly appear;

Cut off my head and my tail also,

You'll have a conjunction then, I trow.

Whole, I'm an insect, not over clean,

Dreaded at picnics in meadows green;

To critics, to publishers, intimate friends,

My name a most delicate piquancy lends;