Edgar Lee Masters

Only the chemist can tell, and not always the chemist,
What will result from
Fluids or solids
And who can

She took my strength by minutes,
She took my life by hours,
She drained me like a fevered moon That saps the spinning world
The days went by like shadows,

Where are Elmer,
Herman,
Bert,
Tom, and Charley,

In my life I was the town drunkard;
When I died the priest denied me burial In holy ground
The which rebounded to my good fortune
For the Protestants bought this lot,

I winged my bird,
Though he flew toward the setting sun;
But just as the shot rang out, he soared Up and up through the splinters of golden light,
Till he turned right over, feathers ruffled,

I had no objection at
To selling my household effects at
On the village square
It gave my beloved flock the

How does it happen, tell me,
That I who was the most erudite of lawyers,
Who knew Blackstone and Coke Almost by heart, who made the greatest speech The court-house ever heard, and wrote A brief that won the praise of Justice Breese— How ...