Transcriber's Notes: Italics are indicated by _underscores_. STARVED ROCK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO . DALLAS ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO STARVED ROCK BY EDGAR LEE MASTERS Author of "Spoon River Anthology," "Songs and Satires," "The Great Valley," "Toward the Gulf," etc. New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1919 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1919 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published, October, 1919 Certain of these poems first appeared in _Reedy's Mirror_, _Poetry_, _The Cosmopolitan_, _The Yale Review_ and _The New York Sun_. CONTENTS PAGE STARVED ROCK 1 HYMN TO THE DEAD 5 CREATION 10 THE WORLD'S DESIRE 13 TYRANNOSAURUS: OR BURNING LETTERS 16 LORD BYRON TO DOCTOR POLIDORI 22 THE FOLDING MIRROR 29 A WOMAN OF FORTY 33 WILD BIRDS 34 A LADY 36 THE NEGRO WARD 40 WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE 44 FOR A PLAY 47 CHICAGO 49 THE WEDDING FEAST 54 BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON 58 THE DREAM OF TASSO 60 THE CHRISTIAN STATESMAN 69 THE LAMENT OF SOPHONIA 77 AT DECAPOLIS 79 WINGED VICTORY 83 OH YOU SABBATARIANS! 88 PALLAS ATHENE 90 AT SAGAMORE HILL 95 TO ROBERT NICHOLS 101 BONNYBELL: THE BUTTERFLY 103 HYMN TO AGNI 109 EPITAPH FOR US 111 BOTTICELLI TO SIMONETTA 114 FLOWER IN THE GARDEN 115 INEXORABLE DEITIES 117 ARIELLE 119 SOUNDS OUT OF SORROW 121 MOURNIN' FOR RELIGION 122 THYAMIS 124 I SHALL GO DOWN INTO THIS LAND 126 SPRING LAKE 128 THE BARBER OF SEPO 138 THEY'D NEVER KNOW ME NOW 145 NEL MEZZO DEL CAMMIN 156