WHAT but the love of God could have softened And made forgiving the people of Spoon River Toward me who wronged the bed of Thomas Merritt And murdered him beside? Oh, loving hearts that took me in again When I returned from fourteen years in prison! Oh, helping hands that in the church received me, And heard with tears my penitent confession, Who took the sacrament of bread and wine! Repent, ye living ones, and rest with Jesus. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PEDANTIC LITERALIST by MARIANNE MOORE LAUGHTER (YOUTH SPEAKS TO HIS OWN OLD AGE) by CONRAD AIKEN READING WHITMAN IN A TOILET STALL by TIMOTHY LIU BONNYBELL: THE BUTTERFLY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JACOB GODBEY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS AN ISLAND (SAINT HELENA, 1821) by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE STORY OF THE ASHES AND THE FLAME by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |