188. Ami Green. Masters, Edgar Lee. 1916. Spoon River Anthology

Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950). Spoon River Anthology. 1916.

188. Ami Green

NOT “a youth with hoary head and haggard eye,”
But an old man with a smooth skin
And black hair!
I had the face of a boy as long as I lived,
And for years a soul that was stiff and bent,	5
In a world which saw me just as a jest,
To be hailed familiarly when it chose,
And loaded up as a man when it chose,
Being neither man nor boy.
In truth it was soul as well as body	10
Which never matured, and I say to you
That the much-sought prize of eternal youth
Is just arrested growth.