 | Collected poems |  |
535
TO BRANDER MATTHEWS
In vain to-day I scrape and blot:
The nimble words, the phrases neat,
Decline to mingle or to meet;
My skill is all foregone—forgot.
The nimble words, the phrases neat,
Decline to mingle or to meet;
My skill is all foregone—forgot.
He will not canter, walk nor trot,
My Pegasus. I spur, I beat,
In vain to-day!
My Pegasus. I spur, I beat,
In vain to-day!
And yet 'twere sure the saddest lot
That I should fail to leave complete
One poor . . . the rhyme suggests “conceit!”
Alas! 'Tis all too clear I'm not
In vein to-day.
That I should fail to leave complete
One poor . . . the rhyme suggests “conceit!”
Alas! 'Tis all too clear I'm not
In vein to-day.
| Collected poems | |