One Additional Poem

Following the avalanche of responses we have received since posting, only yesterday, a precious handful of my rediscovered verse, I am pleased to be able to publish this trifle from my pen, written when still a young bachelor.  Thanks again to Ann Neilson of the Materialistic Maiden blog for her invaluable support and assistance in the miraculous recovery of my poetry.


This was written when my debts were high and my income was low, or during what I like to call my Edgar Allan Poe years.  It was published in the Olean Advocate for August 27, 1836, exactly thirty one years to the day before my tragic demise.

'Tis true I've been improvident,
     'Tis true I've been unwise:
But then, to be forever dunned,
     My patience sorely tries.

Let others sing, in glowing strains
     The pains of being shunned,
But I am sure still to endure
     The torments of the dunned!

My coat is of the latest cut,
     My hat, the very ton:
My boots turn up their graceful toes--
     Alas, they're not my own.

Oh, how I wish the joys I knew,
     The joys of being of shunned--
But I am sure still to endure
     The torments of the dunned!