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Edgar Lee Masters - Percival Sharp
Work rating: Low

Observe the clasped hands!
Are they hands of farewell or greeting,
Hands that I helped or hands that helped me?
Would it not be well to carve a hand
With an inverted thumb, like Elagabalus?
And yonder is a broken chain,
The weakest-link idea perhaps —
But what was it?
And lambs, some lying down,
Others standing, as if listening to the shepherd —
Others bearing a cross, one foot lifted up —
Why not chisel a few shambles?
And fallen columns! Carve the pedestal, please,
Or the foundations; let us see the cause of the fall.
And compasses and mathematical instruments,
In irony of the under tenants` ignorance
Of determinants and the calculus of variations.
And anchors, for those who never sailed.
And gates ajar — yes, so they were;
You left them open and stray goats entered your garden.
And an eye watching like one of the Arimaspi —
So did you — with one eye.
And angels blowing trumpets — you are heralded —
It is your horn and your angel and your family`s estimate.
It is all very well, but for myself I know
I stirred certain vibrations in Spoon River
Which are my true epitaph, more lasting than stone.
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