| YOU never marveled, dullards of Spoon River, | |
| When Chase Henry voted against the saloons | |
| To revenge himself for being shut off. | |
| But none of you was keen enough | |
| To follow my steps, or trace me home | 5 |
| As Chase’s spiritual brother. | |
| Do you remember when I fought | |
| The bank and the courthouse ring, | |
| For pocketing the interest on public funds? | |
| And when I fought our leading citizens | 10 |
| For making the poor the pack-horses of the taxes? | |
| And when I fought the water works | |
| For stealing streets and raising rates? | |
| And when I fought the business men | |
| Who fought me in these fights? | 15 |
| Then do you remember: | |
| That staggering up from the wreck of defeat, | |
| And the wreck of a ruined career, | |
| I slipped from my cloak my last ideal, | |
| Hidden from all eyes until then, | 20 |
| Like the cherished jawbone of an ass, | |
| And smote the bank and the water works, | |
| And the business men with prohibition, | |
| And made Spoon River pay the cost | |
| Of the fights that I had lost? | 25 |