Robert Southey Burke

Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)



I spent my money trying to elect you Mayor
A. D. Blood.
I lavished my admiration upon you,
You were to my mind the almost perfect man.
You devoured my personality,
And the idealism of my youth,
And the strength of a high-souled fealty.
And all my hopes for the world,
And all my beliefs in Truth,
Were smelted up in the blinding heat
Of my devotion to you,
And molded into your image.
And then when I found what you were:
That your soul was small
And your words were false
As your blue-white porcelain teeth,
And your cuffs of celluloid,
I hated the love I had for you,
I hated myself, I hated you
For my wasted soul, and wasted youth.
And I say to all, beware of ideals,
Beware of giving your love away
To any man alive.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
125

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFEGFHCIAJKLMCCFNOP
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 707
Words 143
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 23

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

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