At a Window

Carl Sandburg 1878 (Galesburg) – 1967 (Flat Rock)



Give me hunger,
O you gods that sit and give
The world its orders.
Give me hunger, pain and want,
Shut me out with shame and failure
From your doors of gold and fame,
Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!

But leave me a little love,
A voice to speak to me in the day end,
A hand to touch me in the dark room
Breaking the long loneliness.
In the dusk of day-shapes
Blurring the sunset,
One little wandering, western star
Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.
Let me go to the window,
Watch there the day-shapes of dusk
And wait and know the coming
Of a little love.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 28, 2023

34 sec read
99

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXXXAXA BXXXXXXCCXXB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 584
Words 114
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 7, 12

Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor best known for poetry. more…

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