Enoch Dunlap + 

How many times, during the twenty years + 

I was your leader, friends of Spoon River, + 

Did you neglect the convention and caucus, + 

And leave the burden on my hands + 

Of guarding and saving the people’s cause?⁠— + 

Sometimes because you were ill; + 

Or your grandmother was ill; + 

Or you drank too much and fell asleep; + 

Or else you said: “He is our leader, + 

All will be well; he fights for us; + 

We have nothing to do but follow.” + 

But oh, how you cursed me when I fell, + 

And cursed me, saying I had betrayed you, + 

In leaving the caucus room for a moment, + 

When the people’s enemies, there assembled, + 

Waited and watched for a chance to destroy + 

The Sacred Rights of the People. + 

You common rabble! I left the caucus + 

To go to the urinal! + 