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

112. Roger Heston

OH many times did Ernest Hyde and I

Argue about the freedom of the will.

My favorite metaphor was Prickett’s cow

Roped out to grass, and free you know as far

As the length of the rope.

One day while arguing so, watching the cow

Pull at the rope to get beyond the circle

Which she had eaten bare,

Out came the stake, and tossing up her head,

She ran for us.

“What’s that, free-will or what?” said Ernest, running.

I fell just as she gored me to my death.