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 don'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 A1 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.