Classic Poem

Lady, pray pardon mine excess,
But when your simple suppliant woos,
Despite his Yankee scarletness,
He has Those Sentimental Blues.
Yet, though the yappiest of hicks,
Unsentimental as a derrick,
He learned a lot of mushy tricks
From Robert Herrick.

“Love in my bosom like a bee”
(From Lodge I lift that lovely line)
“Love still hath something of the sea”
(Sedley) “And I'll not ask for wine”
(Jonson). From Byron's Athens Maid,
From girls in Wither, Cowley, Fletcher,
Tennyson, Waller, Dobson, Praed
I've swiped, you betcher.

Oh British bards, studied so oft.
If slushy be my roundelay,
If tender be my heart and soft—
Ye made me what I am to-day.
But still, the heart of this here bard,
For all its frequent jeopardizing,
Has made itself robust and hard
From exercising.