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Oh! could I rhyme but half as well
As Hemans, or as L. E. L^[1].
 The task would then be light.

For then 'twould be within my pow'r
To while away the tedious hour;
 But thus to write is shocking:
Instead of tagging odes and sonnets,
I'd better make my children's bonnets,
 And mend my husband's stocking.

Thus, lady fair, you plainly see,
That poetry's no work for me;
 You therefore cannot blame,

1. The fair Authoress of the Improvisatrice, &c. signs herself "L. E. L."