How does it happen, tell me, 
That I who was the most erudite of lawyers, 
Who knew Blackstone and Coke 
Almost by heart, who made the greatest speech 
The court-house ever heard, and wrote 
A brief that won the praise of Justice Breese-- 
How does it happen, tell me, 
That I lie here unmarked, forgotten, 
While Chase Henry, the town drunkard, 
Has a marble block, topped by an urn, 
Wherein Nature, in a mood ironical, 
Has sown a flowering seed?