Mrs. Merritt -- Spoon River Anthology

<<< Tom Merritt

Elmer Karr >>>

This poem was included in the original 1915 edition.

SILENT before the jury
Returning no word to the judge when he asked me
If I had aught to say against the sentence,
Only shaking my head.
What could I say to people who thought
That a woman of thirty-five was at fault
When her lover of nineteen killed her husband?
Even though she had said to him over and over,
"Go away, Elmer, go far away,
I have maddened your brain with the gift of my body:
You will do some terrible thing."
And just as I feared, he killed my husband;
With which I had nothing to do, before
God Silent for thirty years in prison
And the iron gates of Joliet
Swung as the gray and silent trusties
Carried me out in a coffin.

Comments

Bite Mea , 6 months ago

I love murderes...just like Dora Williams....Thats hot....yes...she killed them...MUAHAHA

Rose. :D , 5 months ago

would someone mind answering this:
why doesn't she have a first name?
is it something cryptic and has some bigger meaning to not have a first name...?
i'm confused... XD

Kina , 5 months ago

She doesn't have a first name because back when this was written, the woman got rid of her first name when she got married and took her husband's name instead. The women didn't get much of a fair chance in this time period

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