I wanted to be County Judge <br />One more term, so as to round out a service <br />Of thirty years. <br />But my friends left me and joined my enemies, <br />And they elected a new man. <br />Then a spirit of revenge seized me, <br />And I infected my four sons with it, <br />And I brooded upon retaliation, <br />Until the great physician, Nature, <br />Smote me through with paralysis <br />To give my soul and body a rest. <br />Did my sons get power and money? <br />Did they serve the people or yoke them, <br />To till and harvest fields of self? <br />For how could they ever forget <br />My face at my bed-room window, <br />Sitting helpless amid my golden cages <br />Of singing canaries, <br />Looking at the old court-house?<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/granville-calhoun/
