Explore "Henry C. Calhoun" by Edgar Lee Masters on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I reached the highest place in Spoon River, / But through what bitterness of spirit!
The face of my father, sitting speechless, / Child-like, watching his canaries, / And looking at the courthouse window / Of the county judge's room, / And his admonitions to me to seek / My own in life, and punish Spoon River / To avenge the wrong the people did him, / Filled me with furious energy / To seek for wealth and seek for power.
But what did he do but send me along / The path that leads to the grove of the Furies?
I followed the path and I tell you this:
On the way to the grove you'll pass the Fates, / Shadow-eyed, bent over their weaving.
Stop for a moment, and if you see / The thread of revenge leap out of the shuttle, / Then quickly snatch from Atropos / The shears and cut it, lest your sons, / And the children of them and their children / Wear the envenomed robe.