Read "Lines from "Maurine. "" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I'd rather have my verses win / A place in common peoples' hearts, / Who, toiling through the strife and din / Of life's great thoroughfares, and marts,
May read some line my hand has penned; / Some simple verse, not fine, or grand, / But what their hearts can understand / And hold me henceforth as a friend, --
I'd rather win such quiet fame / Than by some fine thought, polished so / But those of learned minds would know, / Just what the meaning of my song, -- / To have the critics sound my name / In high-flown praises, loud and long.
I sing not for the critic's ear, / But for the masses. If they hear, / Despite the turmoil, noise and strife / Some least low note that gladdens life, / I shall be wholly satisfied, / Though critics to the end deride.