AUTOGRAPHIC

I feel, if aught I ought to rhyme,

I ought‘ a’ thought a longer time,

And ought‘ a’ caught a higher sense,

Of autocratic eloquence.

I ought‘ a’ sought each haughty Muse

That taught a thought I ought to use,

And fought and fraught, and so devised

A poem unmonotonized.—

But since all this was vain, I thought

I ought to simply say,— I ought

To thank you, as I ought to do,

And ought to bow my best to you;

And ought to trust not to intrude

A rudely wrought-up gratitude,

But ought to smile, and ought to laugh,

And ought to write — an autograph.