"For Country"

Knowlt Hoheimer
by Edgar Lee Masters

I was the first fruits of the battle of Missionary Ridge.
When I felt the bullet enter my heart
I wished I had stayed at home and gone to jail
For stealing the hogs of Curl Trenary,
Instead of running away and joining the army.
Rather a thousand times the county jail
Than to lie under this marble figure with wings,
And this granite pedestal bearing the words, “Pro Patria.”
What do they mean, anyway?

Spoon River Anthology is a wonderful book in which the fictional citizens of Spoon River are each described with a thumbnail of a poem.

It was published in 1914 so is now in the public domain.  It may be read online or downloaded freely from Project Gutenberg, HERE.