Iron

Carl Sandburg



Guns,
Long, steel guns,
Pointed from the war ships
In the name of the war god.
Straight, shining, polished guns,
Clambered over with jackies in white blouses,
Glory of tan faces, tousled hair, white teeth,
Laughing lithe jackies in white blouses,
Sitting on the guns singing war songs, war chanties.

Shovels,
Broad, iron shovels,
Scooping out oblong vaults,
Loosening turf and leveling sod.

I ask you
To witness--
The shovel is brother to the gun.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

23 sec read
485

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAXBACXCA DDXB XXX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 440
Words 77
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 9, 4, 3

Carl Sandburg

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

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