Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Harrison Street Court

I heard a woman's lipsSpeaking to a companionSay these words:"A woman what hustlesNever keeps nothin'For all her hustlin'.Somebody always getsWhat..

© Carl Sandburg

Happiness

I asked the professors who teach the meaning of life to tellme what is happiness.And I went to famous executives who boss the work ofthousands of..

© Carl Sandburg

Handfuls

BLOSSOMS of babiesBlinking their storiesCome softOn the dusk and the babble;Little red gamblers,Handfuls that slept in the dust.Summers of..

© Carl Sandburg

Halsted Street Car

Come you, cartoonists,Hang on a strap with me hereAt seven o’clock in the morningOn a Halsted street car.Take your pencilsAnd draw these faces.Try..

© Carl Sandburg

Half Moon In A High Wind

MONEY is nothing now, even if I had it,O mooney moon, yellow half moon,Up over the green pines and gray elms,Up in the new blue.Streel, streel,White..

© Carl Sandburg

Gypsy

I asked a gypsy palTo imitate an old imageAnd speak old wisdom.She drew in her chin,Made her neck and headThe top piece of a Nile obeliskand..

© Carl Sandburg

Grieg Being Dead

GRIEG being dead we may speak of him and his art.Grieg being dead we can talk about whether he was any good or not.Grieg being with Ibsen, Björnson..

© Carl Sandburg

Graves

I dreamed one man stood against a thousand,One man damned as a wrongheaded fool.One year and another he walked the streets,And a thousand shrugs and..

© Carl Sandburg

Grass

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.Shovel them under and let me work--I am the grass; I cover all.And pile them high at GettysburgAnd..

© Carl Sandburg

Graceland

Tomb of a millionaire,A multi-millionaire, ladies and gentlemen,Place of the dead where they spend every yearThe usury of twenty-five thousand..

© Carl Sandburg

Government

The Government -- I heard about the Government andI went out to find it. I said I would look closely atit when I saw it.Then I saw a policeman..

© Carl Sandburg

Good Night

Many ways to say good night.Fireworks at a pier on the Fourth of Julyspell it with red wheels and yellow spokes.They fizz in the air, touch the water..

© Carl Sandburg

Gone

Everybody loved Chick Lorimer in our town.Far offEverybody loved her.So we all love a wild girl keeping a holdOn a dream she wants.Nobody knows now..

© Carl Sandburg

Goldwing Moth

A goldwing moth is between the scissors and the ink bottleon the desk.Last night it flew hundreds of circles around a glass bulband a flame wire.The..

© Carl Sandburg

Glimmer

LET down your braids of hair, lady.Cross your legs and sit before the looking-glassAnd gaze long on lines under your eyes.Life writes; men dance.And..

© Carl Sandburg

Girl In A Cage

HERE in a cage the dollars come down.To the click of a tube the dollars tumble.And out of a mouth the dollars run.I finger the dollars,Paper and..

© Carl Sandburg

Gargoyle

I SAW a mouth jeering. A smile of melted red iron ran over it. Its laugh was fullof nails rattling. It was a child's dream of a mouth.A fist hit the..

© Carl Sandburg

Garden Wireless

HOW many feet ran with sunlight, water, and air?What little devils shaken of laughter, cramming their little ribs with chuckles,Fixed this lone red..

© Carl Sandburg

Galoots

GALOOTS, you hairy, hankering,Snousle on the bones you eat, chew at the gristle and lick the last of it.Grab off the bones in the paws of other..

© Carl Sandburg

From The Shore

A lone gray bird,Dim-dipping, far-flying,Alone in the shadows and grandeurs and tumultsOf night and the seaAnd the stars and storms.Out over the..

© Carl Sandburg

Four Preludes On Playthings Of The Wind

'The past is a bucket of ashes.'1THE WOMAN named To-morrowsits with a hairpin in her teethand takes her timeand does her hair the way she wants itand..

© Carl Sandburg

For You

THE PEACE of great doors be for you.Wait at the knobs, at the panel oblongs.Wait for the great hinges.The peace of great churches be for you,Where..

© Carl Sandburg

Follies

Shaken,The blossoms of lilac,And shattered,The atoms of purple.Green dip the leaves,Darker the bark,Longer the shadows.Sheer lines of poplarShimmer..

© Carl Sandburg

Fog Portrait

RINGS of iron gray smoke; a woman’s steel face … looking … looking.Funnels of an ocean liner negotiating a fog night; pouring a taffy mass down..

© Carl Sandburg

Fog

The fog comeson little cat feet.It sits lookingover harbor and cityon silent haunchesand then moves on.

© Carl Sandburg