{
 "id": "edgar-lee-masters/edmund-pollard",
 "title": "Edmund Pollard",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Edgar Lee Masters",
 "poet_slug": "edgar-lee-masters",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Spoon River Anthology",
 "book_slug": "spoon-river-anthology",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 150,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1916,
  "venue": "Spoon River Anthology (1916)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/spoonriveranthol021mast"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/edgar-lee-masters_spoon-river-anthology",
  "file": "spoon-river-anthology.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://web.archive.org/web/20080723131115/http://spoonriveranthology.net/spoon/river/originalOrder/",
   "https://archive.org/details/spoonriveranthol021mast"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 22,
  "n_stanzas": 1,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 47,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "I would I had thrust my hands of flesh",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the disk-flowers bee-infested,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the mirror-like core of fire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the light of life, the sun of delight.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For what are anthers worth or petals",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or halo-rays? Mockeries, shadows",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the heart of the flower, the central flame",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All is yours, young passer-by;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Enter the banquet room with the thought;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Don’t sidle in as if you were doubtful",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whether you’re welcome⁠—the feast is yours!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor take but a little, refusing more",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a bashful “Thank you,” when you’re hungry.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is your soul alive? Then let it feed!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Leave no balconies where you can climb;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor milk-white bosoms where you can rest;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor golden heads with pillows to share;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor wine cups while the wine is sweet;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor ecstasies of body or soul,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You will die, no doubt, but die while living",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In depths of azure, rapt and mated,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Kissing the queen-bee, Life!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}