Silas Dement
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
It was moon-light, and the earth sparkled
With new-fallen frost.
It was midnight and not a soul abroad.
Out of the chimney of the court-house
A gray-hound of smoke leapt and chased
The northwest wind.
I carried a ladder to the landing of the stairs
And leaned it against the frame of the trap-door
In the ceiling of the portico,
And I crawled under the roof and amid the rafters
And flung among the seasoned timbers
A lighted handful of oil-soaked waste.
Then I came down and slunk away.
In a little while the fire-bell rang --
Clang! Clang! Clang!
And the Spoon River ladder company
Came with a dozen buckets and began to pour water
On the glorious bon-fire, growing hotter,
Higher and brighter, till the walls fell in,
And the limestone columns where Lincoln stood
Crashed like trees when the woodman fells them...
When I came back from Joliet
There was a new court house with a dome.
For I was punished like all who destroy
The past for the sake of the future.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 98 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJJEKLLMNNOPQRSTN |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 947 |
Words | 178 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 25 |
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"Silas Dement" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/8718/silas-dement>.
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