Benjamin Pantier

    Together in this grave lie Benjamin Pantier, attorney at law,
    And Nig, his dog, constant companion, solace and friend.
    Down the gray road, friends, children, men and women,
    Passing one by one out of life, left me till I was alone
    With Nig for partner, bed-fellow; comrade in drink.
    In the morning of life I knew aspiration and saw glory,
    The she, who survives me, snared my soul
    With a snare which bled me to death,
    Till I, once strong of will, lay broken, indifferent,
    Living with Nig in a room back of a dingy office.
    Under my Jaw-bone is snuggled the bony nose of Nig
    Our story is lost in silence. Go by, Mad world!

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. Born in Kansas and raised in Illinois, Masters is best known for his collection of poems entitled "Spoon River Anthology" (1915), which is a series of epitaphs of residents of the fictional small town of Spoon River. His works reflect the everyday lives and frustrations of middle America. Masters also practiced law and wrote biographies for historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain.

Edgar Lee Masters

Captain Orlando Killion

Edgar Lee Masters, Simple Poetry

Tom Merritt

Edgar Lee Masters, Simple Poetry

Silence

Edgar Lee Masters, Simple Poetry

Something Beyond The Hill

Edgar Lee Masters, Simple Poetry

English

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Mrs. Benjamin Pantier

    I know that he told that I snared his soul
    With a snare which bled him to death.
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Ollie McGee

    Have you seen walking through the village
    A Man with downcast eyes and haggard face?
    That is my husband who, by secret cruelty
    Never to be told, robbed me of my youth and my beauty;
    Till at last, wrinkled and with yellow teeth,
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Edgar Lee Masters

Pauline Barrett

    Almost the shell of a woman after the surgeon's knife
    And almost a year to creep back into strength,
    Till the dawn of our wedding decennial
    Found me my seeming self again.
    We walked the forest together,
    By a path of soundless moss and turf.
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    And you could not look in my eyes,
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Edgar Lee Masters

Benjamin Fraser

    Their spirits beat upon mine
    Like the wings of a thousand butterflies.
    I closed my eyes and felt their spirits vibrating.
    I closed my eyes, yet I knew when their lashes
    Fringed their cheeks from downcast eyes,
    And when they turned their heads;
    And when their garments clung to them,
    Or fell from them, in exquisite draperies.
    Their spirits watched my ecstasy
    With wide looks of starry unconcern.
    Their spirits looked upon my torture;
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    With reddened cheeks, brightened eyes,
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Edgar Lee Masters

Fletcher McGee

    She took my strength by minutes,
    She took my life by hours,
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    The minutes wheeled like stars.
    She took the pity from my heart,
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    She was a hunk of sculptor's clay,
    My secret thoughts were fingers:
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    And lined it deep with pain.
    They set the lips, and sagged the cheeks,
    And drooped the eye with sorrow.
    My soul had entered in the clay,
    Fighting like seven devils.
    It was not mine, it was not hers;
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    Modeled a face she hated,
    And a face I feared to see.
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Edgar Lee Masters

Reuben Pantier

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    I was drinking wine with a black-eyed cocotte,
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Edgar Lee Masters