A Modest Wit

A Found Poem by Beverly Stock

“Dear lady, you say by craft or trade,

That you earn a livelihood?”

“I am a poet born to serenade,

And my rhyme is reckoned good.”

“A poet, What? Who taught you this?

Instead of teaching you to sew?

Thus your core education missed-

Cooking and keeping babes in tow!”

“Cooking and keeping house only?

You, sir, are irreversibly mad!

I learned not docile nor lonely.

My courses by tutors were led.”

“So excuse the liberty I take.”

Said she, with candor as a clue,

“Pray, why did your father NOT make

A gentleman of you?”

A Modest Wit was inspired by a much longer poem in the public domain, with the same name, penned by Selleck Osborn, 1783-1826.

Beverly Stock is an American poet who delights in creating poetry that asks big questions about small moments, and inspires readers to revisit the little memories we so often overlook. Her work has been published by The Society of Classical Poets, The Chained Muse, Persimmon Tree, and LightenUp Online, in the UK. Visit BeverlyStockPoetry.com and BeverlyStockPoetry on Facebook.