Back to Index

Francis Turner

by Edgar Lee Masters, 1916

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.

Published in Spoon River Anthology
Tags:

Any corrections or public domain poems I should have here? Email me at poems (at) this domain.