I've Been Praised And Lampooned

I've been praised and lampooned and my best days long gone
But i was born to be a rhymer and i will rhyme on
Until the Reaper of lives claims the life's breath from me
Sometime in the future whenever that will be

Since i've penned my first lines back in seventy three
The rhymes they have never stopped coming to me
More than nine thousand one hundred i can claim to my name
But such not even a ticket to a minor fame

I've been advised by some to give rhyming away
That on my literary ambitions i should call it a day
On what is my business some like to have a say
Though any heed to their advice i never do pay

Though what i pen few bother to read or recite
It is only for enjoyment i ever do write
And if i said i'd quit rhyming i'd be telling a lie
As i hope to keep writing till the day that i die.