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Hon. Henry Bennett

by Edgar Lee Masters, 1916

It never came into my mind
 Until I was ready to die
 That Jenny had loved me to death, with malice of heart.
 For I was seventy, she was thirty-five,
 And I wore myself to a shadow trying to husband
 Jenny, rosy Jenny full of the ardor of life.
 For all my wisdom and grace of mind
 Gave her no delight at all, in very truth,
 But ever and anon she spoke of the giant strength
 Of Willard Shafer, and of his wonderful feat
 Of lifting a traction engine out of the ditch
 One time at Georgie Kirby's.
 So Jenny inherited my fortune and married Willard—
 That mount of brawn! That clownish soul!

Published in Spoon River Anthology
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