Whoever thou art who passest by <br />Know that my father was gentle, <br />And my mother was violent, <br />While I was born the whole of such hostile halves, <br />Not intermixed and fused, <br />But each distinct, feebly soldered together. <br />Some of you saw me as gentle, <br />Some as violent, <br />Some as both. <br />But neither half of me wrought my ruin. <br />It was the falling asunder of halves, <br />Never a part of each other, <br />That left me a lifeless soul.<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/henry-layton/
