Mrs. Merritt
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.
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"Silent before the jury..."
"Mrs. Merritt" is a quintessential example of Edgar Lee Masters's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...