Cripple
Carl Sandburg 1878 (Galesburg) – 1967 (Flat Rock)
Once when I saw a cripple
Gasping slowly his last days with the white plague,
Looking from hollow eyes, calling for air,
Desperately gesturing with wasted hands
In the dark and dust of a house down in a slum,
I said to myself
I would rather have been a tall sunflower
Living in a country garden
Lifting a golden-brown face to the summer,
Rain-washed and dew-misted,
Mixed with the poppies and ranking hollyhocks,
And wonderingly watching night after night
The clear silent processionals of stars.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 26 sec read
- 128 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHGIJIK |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 502 |
Words | 87 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 13 |
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"Cripple" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/4645/cripple>.
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