How does it happen, tell me, <br />That I who was the most erudite of lawyers, <br />Who knew Blackstone and Coke <br />Almost by heart, who made the greatest speech <br />The court-house ever heard, and wrote <br />A brief that won the praise of Justice Breese-- <br />How does it happen, tell me, <br />That I lie here unmarked, forgotten, <br />While Chase Henry, the town drunkard, <br />Has a marble block, topped by an urn, <br />Wherein Nature, in a mood ironical, <br />Has sown a flowering seed?<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/judge-somers/
