| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Le Médecin Malgré Lui | | By William Carlos Williams |
| | | OH I suppose I should | |
| Wash the walls of my office, | |
| Polish the rust from | |
| My instruments and keep them | |
| Definitely in order; | 5 |
| Build shelves in | |
| The little laboratory; | |
| Empty out the old stains, | |
| Clean the bottles | |
| And refill them; buy | 10 |
| Another lens; put | |
| My journals on edge instead of | |
| Letting them lie flat | |
| In heaps—then begin | |
| Ten years back and | 15 |
| Gradually | |
| Read them to date, | |
| Cataloguing important | |
| Articles for ready reference. | |
| I suppose I should | 20 |
| Read the new books. | |
| If to this I added | |
| A bill at the tailor’s | |
| And the cleaner’s | |
| And grew a decent beard | 25 |
| And cultivated a look | |
| Of importance— | |
| Who can tell? I might be | |
| A credit to my Lady Happiness | |
| And never think anything | 30 |
| But a white thought! | | | | |
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