| | I went to the dances at Chandlerville, |
| | And played snap-out1 at Winchester. |
| | One time we changed partners, |
| | Driving home in the moonlight of middle June, |
| 5 | And then I found Davis. |
| | We were married and lived together for seventy years, |
| | Enjoying, working, raising the twelve children, |
| | Eight of whom we lost |
| | Ere2 I had reached the age of sixty. |
| 10 | I spun, I wove, I kept the house, I nursed the sick, |
| | I made the garden, and for holiday |
| | Rambled over the fields where sang the larks, |
| | And by Spoon River gathering many a shell, |
| | And many a flower and medicinal weed— |
| 15 | Shouting to the wooded hills, singing to the green valleys. |
| | At ninety-six I had lived enough, that is all, |
| | And passed to a sweet repose3. |
| | What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness, |
| | Anger, discontent and drooping hopes? |
| 20 | Degenerate sons and daughters, |
| | Life is too strong for you— |
| | It takes life to love Life. |
