Good reader, do not blame the bard
For phrases too obscure or hard,
Or if the grammar seem to halt;
Believe me that's the scrivener's fault.
He knew your eagerness to read
And sacrificed too much to speed.
If me you blame instead of him,
Your intellect must need be dim:
You call me but a feeble poet?
I'm not so dull as not to know it;
My verse is poor, that I admit,
But doubt if you can better it.