Francis Turner

I could not run or play
In boyhood.
In manhood I could only sip the cup,
Not drink⁠—
For scarlet-fever left my heart diseased.
Yet I lie here
Soothed by a secret none but Mary knows:
There is a garden of acacia,
Catalpa trees, and arbors sweet with vines⁠—
There on that afternoon in June
By Mary’s side⁠—
Kissing her with my soul upon my lips
It suddenly took flight.

Where this text comes from

First published in Spoon River Anthology (1916). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-20.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/edgar-lee-masters_spoon-river-anthology, spoon-river-anthology.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (2)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L13.

Cite this poem

Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950). “Francis Turner.” First published in Spoon River Anthology (1916). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/edgar-lee-masters/francis-turner/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

More by Edgar Lee Masters