I WAS the milliner Talked about, lied about, Mother of Dora, Whose strange disappearance Was charged to her rearing. My eye quick to beauty Saw much beside ribbons And buckles and feathers And leghorns and felts, To set off sweet faces, And dark hair and gold. One thing I will tell you And one I will ask: The stealers of husbands Wear powder and trinkets, And fashionable hats. Wives, wear them yourselves. Hats may make divorces -- They also prevent them. Well now, let me ask you: If all of the children, born here in Spoon River Had been reared by the County, somewhere on a farm; And the fathers and mothers had been given their freedom To live and enjoy, change mates if they wished, Do you think that Spoon River Had been any the worse? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LAMENT FOR THE MAKARIS [WHEN HE WAS SEIK] by WILLIAM DUNBAR AMORETTI: 75 by EDMUND SPENSER LOVE SONNET by GEORGE HENRY BOKER THE ALLIGATOR by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD A MEMORY by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE SONG TO A LADY NOT YET ENJOY'D BY HER HUSBAND by THOMAS CAREW |