I won the prize essay at school
Here in the village,
And published a novel before I was twenty-five.
I went to the city for themes and to enrich my art;
There married the bankers daughter,
And later became president of the bank
Always looking forward to some leisure
To write an epic novel of the war.
Meanwhile friend of the great, and lover of letters,
And host to Matthew Arnold and to Emerson.
An after dinner speaker, writing essays
For local clubs. At last brought here
My boyhood home, you know
Not even a little tablet in Chicago
To keep my name alive.
How great it is to write the single line:
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean, roll!
John Horace Burleson
written byEdgar Lee Masters
© Edgar Lee Masters