Francis Turner
I could not run or play
In boyhood.
In manhood I could only sip the cup,
Not drink –
For scarlet-fever left my heart diseased.
Yet I lie here
Soothed by a secret none but Mary knows:
There is a garden of acacia,
Catalpa trees, and arbors sweet with vines
–
There on that afternoon in June
By Mary’s side –
Kissing her with my soul upon my lips
It suddenly took flight.
~~
Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950)from Spoon River Anthology, 1915[
Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]
Edgar Lee Masters biography
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