Nine lines by way of Apology for not writing eight.
Oh! if from tuneful Laura’s hand
Had fall’n the little truant band,
Or Myra’s golden chain,
The subject would the verse inspire,
Some bard might then have seized the lyre,
And waked the vocal strain!
But she to whom no charms belong
Has little claim to poets song
Her brac’let strays in vain!
M.F.
Oct 29th 1810