Please take me on; I really want to write:
you won’t be disappointed if you do:
I’ll give you work that isn’t cheap or slight.
Though I’ve experience and appetite
I feel I need to learn it all anew:
please take me on: I really want to write.
I’ve skill: I know when – say – enjambment’s quite
the thing, and when what it really wants is a clerihew,
I’ll give you nothing that is cheap or slight.
How could I fail to get my homework right,
sat at the feet of you exalted two?
Please take me on: I really want to write.
And even if I have to stay awake all night
there’s nothing in this world that I would rather do.
I’ll never give you cheap; I don’t do slight.
I used to fish when young, and much delight
I had of it, and some successes too:
(please take me on: I really want to write)
what bait to use, that two St. Peters bite
as did the massive shark I caught off Looe?
I wouldn’t dream of being cheap or slight,
I’m educated, decent and polite,
I’ll always give the better egg to you:
please take me on: I really want to write.
Because I’ll never give you cheap or slight;
because I want to write what’s now, and true;
because it’s something I just have to do.
please take me on. I really want to write.