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 Lowly Laureate by Robert William Service 
						O Sacred Muse, my lyre excuse! -My verse is vagrant singing;
 Rhyme I invoke for simple folk
 Of penny-wise upbringing:
 For Grannies grey to paste away
 Within an album cover;
 For maids in class to primly pass,
 And lads to linger over.
 
 I take the clay of every day
 And mould it in my fashion;
 I seek to trace the commonplace
 With humor and compassion.
 Of earth am I, and meekly try
 To be supremely human:
 To please, I plan, the little man,
 And win the little women.
 
 No evil theme shall daunt my dream
 Of fellow-love and pity;
 I tune my lute to prostitute,
 To priest I pipe my ditty.
 Through gutter-grime be in my rhyme,
 I bow to altars holy. . . .
 Lord, humble me, so I may be
 A Laureate of the Lowly.
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