Harold Crawford Stearns. Reuben Roy. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Reuben Roy

By Harold Crawford Stearns


A LITTLE fellow, brown with wind—
I saw him in the street
Peering at numbers on the posts,
But most discreet:

For when a woman came outdoors,	5
Or slyly peeped instead,
He turned away, took off his hat,
And scratched his head.

I watched him from my garden-wall
Perhaps an hour or more,	10
For something in his attitude,
The clothes he wore,

Awoke the dimmest memories
Of when I was a boy
And knew the story of a man	15
Named Reuben Roy.

It seems that Reuben went to sea
The night his wife decried
The fence he built before their house
And up the side.	20

He wanted it but she did not,
Because it hid from view
The spot in which her mignonette
And tulips grew.

Nobody saw his face again,	25
But each year, unawares,
He sent a sum for taxes due—
And fence repairs.

My curiosity aroused,
I sauntered forth to see	30
Whether this individual
Were really he.

“Who are you looking for?” I asked.
His eyes, like two bright pence,
Sparkled at mine; and then he said:	35
“A fence.”

“Somebody burned it Hallowe’en,
When people were in bed;
Before the judge could prosecute,
The culprit fled.”	40

Well, Reuben only touched his hat
And mumbled, “Thank you, sir,”
And asked me whereabouts to find
A carpenter.