“GUESS”

There is a certain Yankee phrase

I always have revered,

Yet, somehow, in these modern days,

It's almost disappeared;

It was the usage years ago,

But nowadays it's got

To be regarded coarse and low

To answer: “I guess not!”

The height of fashion called the pink

Affects a British craze —

Prefers “I fancy” or “I think”

To that time-honored phrase;

But here's a Yankee, if you please,

That brands the fashion rot,

And to all heresies like these

He answers, “I — guess not!” —

When Chaucer, Wycliff, and the rest

Express their meaning thus,

I guess, if not the very best,

It's good enough for us!

Why! shall the idioms of our speech

Be banished and forgot

For this vain trash which moderns teach?

Well, no, sir; I guess not!

There's meaning in that homely phrase

No other words express —

No substitute therefor conveys

Such unobtrusive stress.

True Anglo-Saxon speech, it goes

Directly to the spot,

And he who hears it always knows

The worth of “I — guess — not!”