THE VERSECRAFTER

                    Skillful, sometimes brilliant, in his art, 
                    Our would-be poet practiced day by day
                    Devoted to the style nearest his heart, 
                    His manner being the rhyme-and-meter way
                    That served the classic poets through the ages
                    And still can capture auditors with song
                    Enchanted by such spells as ancient mages
                    Cast to make a sentiment prolong.
                    What most compelled his daily regimen
                    Was curiosity, to see what would
                    Turn up, going where he had never been
                    And often making something pretty good.
                        In time the hope of turning one great verse,
                        Gave way to making each new one less worse.

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