Classic Poem

At the Poetry Society

The Chairman stares about the stuffy room
For someone to say a word or two for one
Who's down from Maine to see how poets bloom.
The man's unknown to the world we men have spun.
Behind their boredom, poets sip pale tea — —
Haven't the great ones spoken, long and short?
The Chairman glares, but then his glance spies me;
" You brought him here; now bring your friend to Court! "

I totter to my feet, all ill at ease — —
I'm never at home among these clever birds — —
And now I'm supposed to speak, I lose my knees — —
I feel much more than I can say in words — —
What's this I hear — — can that quick tongue be mine?
Let's drink to Gould, though not in tea, but wine!English