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Nellie Clark

Topics: classic

I was only eight years old;         And before I grew up and knew what it meant         I had no words for it, except         That I was frightened and told my         Mother; And that my Father got a pistol         And would have killed Charlie, who was a big boy,         Fifteen years old, except for his Mother.         Nevertheless the story clung to me.         But the man who married me, a widower of thirty-five,         Was a newcomer and never heard it         'Till two years after we were married.         Then he considered himself cheated,         And the village agreed that I was not really a virgin.         Well, he deserted me, and I died         The following winter.

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"I was only eight years old;..."

"Nellie Clark" 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...

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