THE DILETTANT.

To lie outright in the light of day

I'm not sufficiently skilful,

But I practice a bit, in an amateur way,

The lie which is hardly wilful;

The society lie and the business lie

And the lie I have had to double,

And the lie that I lie when I do n't know why

And the truth is too much trouble.

For this I am willing to take your blame

Unless you have sometimes done the same.

To be a fool of an A brand

I'm not sufficiently clever,

But I often have tried my‘ prentice hand

In a callow and crude endeavor;

A fool with the money for which I've toiled,

A fool with the word I've spoken,

And the foolish fool who is fooled and foiled

On a maiden's finger broken.

If you never yourself have made a slip,

I'm willing to watch you curl your lip.

And yet my blood and my bone resist

If you dub me fool and liar.

I set my teeth and double my fist

And my brow is flushed with fire.

You I deny and you I defy

And I vow I will make you rue it;

And I lie when I say that I never lie,

Which proves me a fool to do it!

You may jerk your thumb at me and grin

If liar and fool you never have been.