If, from servile hope or love, I may prove But so happy to be thought for Such a one, whose greatest ease Is to please, Worthy sir, I've all I sought for: For no itch of greater name, Which some claim By their verses, do I show it To the world; nor to protest 'Tis the best;— These are lean faults in a poet;— Nor to make it serve to feed At my need, Nor to gain acquaintance by it, Nor to ravish kind attornies In their journies Nor to read it after diet. Far from me are all these aims, Fittest frames To build weakness on and pity. Only to yourself, and such Whose true touch Makes all good, let me seem witty. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BOSTON COMMON: 1774 by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES DOROTHY Q; A FAMILY PORTRAIT by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 47 by PHILIP SIDNEY THE SWAMP FOX by WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS A SHADOW OF THE NIGHT by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH LAURENCE BLOOMFIELD IN IRELAND: 10. THE FAIR by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM URANIA; THE WOMAN IN THE MOON: DEDICATION TO LADY PENELOPE DYNHAM by WILLIAM BASSE |