I Am Not The Only Poetaster

I am a journey man from Ireland who has written reams of doggerel But the poets go to the poets heaven and I'm bound for the poetasters hell For if there is a life hereafter as many believe there may be For my ordinary life I will not be rewarded though in hell I will have company. I once dreamed of fame and of fortune but that was a long time ago And the more I have learned it would seem the less I realize that I know I fancied myself as a student of Nature but Nature seems too big for me There's more than song to the bird you hear singing at dawn and dusk on high branch of a tree. I am not the only poetaster who only writes doggerel rhyme And I am not the only poetaster to have dreamed of success in my prime But the years they went by far too quickly and time for anyone doesn't wait And the past has departed forever and for any regrets now too late. I thought I knew something of Nature but in retrospect I got it wrong For Nature with us does not share her secrets since to Nature we too belong Our span of life is such a brief span and too soon we grow old and gray Though vain people pay heaps of money for to cover their signs of decay. I am not the only poetaster to have dreamed of fortune and fame And I am not the only poetaster there are many far too many to name And though we are like the leaves of the Autumn who flow off in the flooded stream Life for us would scarce be worth living if we were not able to dream.