Tom Merritt

By Edgar Lee Masters

AT first I suspected something —

She acted so calm and absent-minded.

And one day I heard the back door shut

As I entered the front, and I saw him slink

Back of the smokehouse into the lot

And run across the field.

And I meant to kill him on sight.

But that day, walking near Fourth Bridge

Without a stick or a stone at hand,

All of a sudden I saw him standing

Scared to death, holding his rabbits,

And all I could say was, “Do n't, Do n't, Do n't,”

As he aimed and fired at my heart.