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Eugene Field - One Day I Got A Missive
Work rating: Low

One day I got a missive
          Writ in a dainty hand,
      Which made my manly bosom
          With vanity expand.
      ’Twas from a “young admirer”
          Who asked me would I mind
      Sending her “favorite poem”
          “In autograph, and signed.”

      She craved the boon so sweetly
          That I had been a churl
      Had I repulsed the homage
          Of this gentle, timid girl;
      With bright illuminations
          I decked the manuscript,
      And in my choicest paints and inks
          My brush and pen I dipt.

      Indeed it had been tedious
          But that a flattering smile
      Played on my rugged features
          And eased my toil the while.
      I was assured my poem
          Would fill her with delight —
      I fancied she was pretty —
          I knew that she was bright!

      And for a spell thereafter
          That unknown damsel’s face
      With its worshipful expression
          Pursued me every place;
      Meseemed to hear her whisper:
          “O, thank you, gifted sir,
      For the overwhelming honor
          You so graciously confer!”

      But a catalogue from Benjamin’s
          Disproves what things meseemed —
      Dispels with savage certainty
          The flattering dreams I dreamed;
      For that poor “favorite poem,”
          Done and signed in autograph,
      Is listed in “Cheap Items”
          At a dollar-and-a-half.
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