They have Chiseled on my stone th… ‘His life was gentle, and the elem… That nature might stand up and say… This was a man.’ Those who knew me smile

On a mountain top above the clouds That streamed like a sea below me I said that peak is the thought of… And that one is the prayer of Jes… And this one is the dream of Plat…

When conquerors lift the bloody sh… Showing the fallen’s ooze of life, And on a waste of blasted field Joy quickens to the drum and fife, Then the weird brood of flame and…

When Fort Sumter fell and the war… I cried out in bitterness of soul: “O glorious republic now no more!” When they buried my soldier son To the call of trumpets and the so…

I wanted to go away to college But rich Aunt Persis wouldn’t hel… So I made gardens and raked the l… And bought John Alden’s books wit… And toiled for the very means of l…

Do the boys and girls still go to… For cider, after school, in late… Or gather hazel nuts among the thi… On Aaron Hatfield’s farm when the… For many times with the laughing g…

Toward the last The truth of others was untruth to… The justice of others injustice to… Their reasons for death, reasons w… Their reasons for life, reasons wi…

Spring and Summer, Fall and Wint… After each other drifting, past my… And I lay so many years watching… The years till a terror came in my… With the feeling that I had becom…

I was attorney for the “Q” And the Indemnity Company which i… The owners of the mine. I pulled the wires with judge and… And the upper courts, to beat the…

Maurice, weep not, I am not here… The balmy air of spring whispers t… The stars sparkle, the whippoorwil… But thou grievest, while my soul l… In the blest Nirvana of eternal l…

Rhodes’ slave! Selling shoes and… Flour and bacon, overalls, clothin… For fourteen hours a day for three… For more than twenty years. Saying “Yes’m” and “Yes, sir”, an…

As to democracy, fellow citizens, Are you not prepared to admit That I, who inherited riches and… Was second to none in Spoon River In my devotion to the cause of Li…

You observe the carven hand With the index finger pointing hea… That is the direction, no doubt. But how shall one follow it? It is well to abstain from murder…

In the lust of my strength I cursed God, but he paid no atte… I might as well have cursed the st… In my last sickness I was in agon… And I cursed God for my suffering…

A chaplain in the army, A chaplain in the prisons, An exhorter in Spoon River, Drunk with divinity, Spoon River— Yet bringing poor Eliza Johnson t…