Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: DR. SIEGFIED ISEMAN, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS



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SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: DR. SIEGFIED ISEMAN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I said when they handed me my diploma
Last Line: By the upright federal judge!


I SAID when they handed me my diploma,
I said to myself I will be good
And wise and brave and helpful to others;
I said I will carry the Christian creed
Into the practice of medicine!
Somehow the world and the other doctors
Know what's in your heart as soon as you make
This high-souled resolution.
And the way of it is they starve you out.
And no one comes to you but the poor.
And you find too late that being a doctor
Is just a way of making a living.
And when you are poor and have to carry
The Christian creed and wife and children
All on your back, it is too much!
That's why I made the Elixir of Youth,
Which landed me in the jail at Peoria
Branded a swindler and a crook
By the upright Federal Judge!





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