Cool Tombs

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



When Abraham Lincoln was shoveled into the tombs he forgot
the copperheads and the assassin . . . in the dust, in the
cool tombs.

And Ulysses Grant lost all thought of con men and Wall Street,
cash and collateral turned ashes . . . in the dust, in the
cool tombs.

Pocahontas' body, lovely as a poplar, sweet as a red haw in
November or a pawpaw in May, did she wonder? does she
remember? . . . in the dust, in the cool tombs?

Take any streetful of people buying clothes and groceries,
cheering a hero or throwing confetti and blowing tin
horns . . . tell me if the lovers are losers . . . tell me if any
get more than the lovers . . . in the dust . . . in the cool
tombs.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 27, 2023

36 sec read
206

Quick analysis:

Scheme xaB xaB cdb xcdxb
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 666
Words 121
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 5

Carl Sandburg

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

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