Alfred Moir

Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)



Why was I not devoured by self-contempt,
And rotted down by indifference
And impotent revolt like Indignation Jones?
Why, with all of my errant steps
Did I miss the fate of Willard Fluke?
And why, though I stood at Burchard's bar,
As a sort of decoy for the house to the boys
To buy the drinks, did the curse of drink
Fall on me like rain that runs off,
Leaving the soul of me dry and clean?
And why did I never kill a man
Like Jack McGuire?
But instead I mounted a little in life,
And I owe it all to a book I read.
But why did I go to Mason City,
Where I chanced to see the book in a window,
With its garish cover luring my eye?
And why did my soul respond to the book,
As I read it over and over?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

45 sec read
103

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 689
Words 149
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 19

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

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