I'M a Poet

I'm a poet through and through, Though I cannot explain to you How it happened or what it was That led me to it. I didn't set out to pursue it, I just, one day, began to do it, And then ten years blinked by Almost before I knew it. The poems I pen are mostly true, Though now and then I stretch a few. To imbue lines with more élan Is why I do it. The verse to which I lend my name Won't tend to fortune nor to fame, But I'll keep scribbling just the same And never rue it. My heart and soul are in my style, If I can make one reader smile, My efforts will have been worthwhile, Although I may never know it. I'm no Shelley, Keats, or Poe, Or Frost, or Nash, but even so, I hope in time my rhymes will show That I'm a poet.