Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/30

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Thank God, my wife and I are well content In doing things to win a modest name Without the aid of Party Government And all the meanness of that paltry Game. Honest endeavour, and some boards and nails, Pride in your work—this method seldom fails.

I am so diffident, I hardly care To give advice to statesmen eminent, And yet, on this occasion, shall I dare To offer them some small encouragement: Let them forgo their wrangles, curses, howls, And strive to build a little place for fowls.

'Tis sheer presumption, surely, to compare Myself with statesmen in high honour decked; Yet do I feel emboldened to declare That I am more deserving of respect. They, by their brawls, a mighty work have marred; I built an honest fowlhouse in my yard.