Explore "Erring in Company" by Franklin P. Adams on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
("If I have erred I err in company with Abraham / Lincoln. " -- THEODORE ROOSEVELT.)
If e'er my rhyming be at fault, / If e'er I chance to scribble dope, / If that my metre ever halt, / I err in company with Pope.
An that my grammar go awry, / An that my English be askew, / Sooth, I can prove an alibi -- / The Bard of Avon did it, too.
If often toward the bottled grape / My errant fancy fondly turns, / Remember, jeering jackanape, / I err in company with Burns.
If now and then I sigh "Mine own! " / Unto another's wedded wife, / Remember I am not alone -- / Hast ever read Lord Byron's Life?
If frequently I fret and fume, / And absolutely will not smile, / I err in company with Hume, / Old Socrates and T. Carlyle.
If e'er I fail in etiquette, / And foozle on The Proper Stuff / Regarding manners, don't forget / A. Tennyson's were pretty tough.
Eke if I err upon the side / Of talking overmuch of Me, / I err, it cannot be denied, / In most illustrious company.