Plagiarist

Guilty, I must confess it,
Guilty without repentance,
Here at the bar of judgement
Waiting verdict and sentence:
Madam, I'm a lover of books~
Compiler of elegant phrases,
Specializing in things poets
Have said, reflected, selected
And arranged with pain-taking care
Poems, orations, the choicest
Uttered in praise of the fair~
All these have I stolen
With wanton abandon tis true
And my only defense is
I gathered them just to please you:
Caught, red-handed in the act,
I'm guilty, I could not resist!
Am I condemned to exile?
Or are the charges dismissed?

^© O. E. Enfield