Spoon River Anthology
Edgar Lee Masters
George Trimble << --- >> "Ace" Shaw
Dr. Siegfried Iseman
I SAID when they handed me my diploma,
I said to myself I will be good
And wise and brave and helpful to others;
I said I will carry the Christian creed
Into the practice of medicine!
Somehow the world and the other doctors
Know what's in your heart as soon as you make
this high-souled resolution.
And the way of it is they starve you out.
And no one comes to you but the poor.
And you find too lated that being a doctor
Is just a way of making a living.
And when you are poor and have to carry
The Christian creed and wife and children
All on your back, it is too much!
And that's why I made the Elixir of Youth,
Which landed me me in the jail at Peoria
Branded a swindler and a crook
By the upright Federal Judge!
Source: Project Gutenberg