Observe the clasped hands! <br />Are they hands of farewell or greeting, <br />Hands that I helped or hands that helped me? <br />Would it not be well to carve a hand <br />With an inverted thumb, like Elagabalus? <br />And yonder is a broken chain, <br />The weakest-link idea perhaps -- <br />But what was it? <br />And lambs, some lying down, <br />Others standing, as if listening to the shepherd -- <br />Others bearing a cross, one foot lifted up -- <br />Why not chisel a few shambles? <br />And fallen columns! Carve the pedestal, please, <br />Or the foundations; let us see the cause of the fall. <br />And compasses and mathematical instruments, <br />In irony of the under tenants' ignorance <br />Of determinants and the calculus of variations. <br />And anchors, for those who never sailed. <br />And gates ajar -- yes, so they were; <br />You left them open and stray goats entered your garden. <br />And an eye watching like one of the Arimaspi -- <br />So did you -- with one eye. <br />And angels blowing trumpets -- you are heralded -- <br />It is your horn and your angel and your family's estimate. <br />It is all very well, but for myself I know <br />I stirred certain vibrations in Spoon River <br />Which are my true epitaph, more lasting than stone.<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/percival-sharp/
