18. Trainor, the Druggist. Masters, Edgar Lee. 1916. Spoon River Anthology

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

18. Trainor, the Druggist

ONLY the chemist can tell, and not always the chemist,
What will result from compounding
Fluids or solids.
And who can tell
How men and women will interact	5
On each other, or what children will result?
There were Benjamin Pantier and his wife,
Good in themselves, but evil toward each other:
He oxygen, she hydrogen,
Their son, a devastating fire.	10
I Trainor, the druggist, a mixer of chemicals,
Killed while making an experiment,
Lived unwedded.