The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger

I am not ambitious at all:
      I am not a poet, I know
    (Though I do love to see a mere scrawl
      To order and symmetry grow).
      My muse is uncertain and slow,
    I am not expert with my tools,
      I lack the poetic argot:
    But I hope I have kept to the rules.

    When your brain is undoubtedly small,
    'Tis hard, sir, to write in a row,
  Some five or six rhymes to Nepaul,
    And more than a dozen to Joe:
    The metre is easier though,
  Three rhymes are sufficient for 'ghouls,'
    My lines are deficient in go,
  But I hope I have kept to the rules.

  Unable to fly let me crawl,
    Your patronage kindly bestow:
  I am not the author of Saul,
    I am not Voltaire or Rousseau:
    I am not desirous, oh no!
  To rise from the ranks of the fools,
    To shine with Gosse, Dobson and Co.:
  But I hope I have kept to the rules.

  Dear Sir, though my language is low,
    Let me dip in Pierian pools:
  My verses are only so so,
    But I hope I have kept to the rules.