HOW many times, during the twenty years I was your leader, friends of Spoon River, Did you neglect the convention and caucus, And leave the burden on my hands Of guarding and saving the people's cause? -- Sometimes because you were ill; Or your grandmother was ill; Or you drank too much and fell asleep; Or else you said: "He is our leader, All will be well; he fights for us; We have nothing to do but follow." But oh, how you cursed me when I fell, And cursed me, saying I had betrayed you, In leaving the caucus room for a moment, When the people's enemies, there assembled, Waited and watched for a chance to destroy The Sacred Rights of the People. You common rabble! I left the caucus To go to the urinal! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ANOTHER GRACE FOR A CHILD by ROBERT HERRICK THE BANNER OF THE JEW by EMMA LAZARUS I DO NOT LOVE THEE by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON A TEAMSTER'S FAREWELL by CARL SANDBURG PAN IN WALL STREET by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN THE BUOY-BELL by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER AT TWO-AND-TWENTY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |