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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: NICHOLAS BINDLE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS

Poet Analysis

First Line: WERE YOU NOT ASHAMED, FELLOW CITIZENS
Last Line: WORSHIPPED FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER HIS ACQUITTAL?

WERE you not ashamed, fellow citizens,
When my estate was probated and everyone knew
How small a fortune I left? --
You who hounded me in life,
To give, give, give to the churches, to the poor,
To the village! -- me who had already given much.
And think you not I did not know
That the pipe-organ, which I gave to the church,
Played its christening songs when Deacon Rhodes,
Who broke the bank and all but ruined me,
Worshipped for the first time after his acquittal?



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