Judge Selah Lively

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



Suppose you stood just five feet two,
And had worked your way as a grocery clerk,
Studying law by candle light
Until you became an attorney at law?
And then suppose through your diligence,
And regular church attendance,
You became attorney for Thomas Rhodes,
Collecting notes and mortgages,
And representing all the widows
In the Probate Court? And through it all
They jeered at your size, and laughed at your clothes
And your polished boots? And then suppose
You became the County Judge?
And Jefferson Howard and Kinsey Keene,
And Harmon Whitney, and all the giants
Who had sneered at you, were forced to stand
Before the bar and say "Your Honor" --
Well, don't you think it was natural
That I made it hard for them?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
69

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEEFGHIJHKLMNOPQ
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 707
Words 129
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 19

Edgar Lee Masters

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

All Edgar Lee Masters poems | Edgar Lee Masters Books

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