Cacoethes Scribendi

I want to be a journalist,

     Some lively journal edit;

Then I would claim more earthly fame,

     And have more to my credit.

My name would flash from pole to pole,

     And bloom on the equator;

While foreign lands with outstretched hands

     Would show me income greater.

*        *        *        *        *        *        *

O, now I am a journalist,

     I publish, set and edit;

I own the floor, but nothing more,

     And can’t get any credit.

My name is known from pole to pole,

     (Walpole and Poleville Center);

And fellow men who watch my pen

     Declare I am dementia.

Nov. 6, 1893

Pub. in Boston

Courier, Dec. 24,

     1893

Cacoethes - An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/cacoethes