University of Virginia Library


194

LETTER TO HARRY SEDGWICK 26 DECEMBER 1805

Your friendly verse was quite a treat
To me who love the short and sweet;
Alike of rhyme and wit observant
It vastly pleas'd your humble servant.
The bellman now his blessing sends
To all his customers and friends,
In dismal sonnets nightly crying
Because the poor old year is dying;
And shall not I, a brother poet,
Who prize true friendship when I know it,
The bellman's bright example follow,
That tuneful offering of Apollo?
While he a merry Christmas wishes
To all the friends of pans and dishes
(Announcing with portentous face
Destruction to the Turkey race)
My feeble muse her voice prolongs,
And joins with his sublimer songs
To thank in accents kind and free
The few, few friends that care for me,
In rhyme to friends alone addressed,
And you among the first and best.