Grass
Grass
Original Text
Carl Sandburg, Cornhuskers (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1918), p. 126. PS 3537 A618C6 1916 Robarts Library.
2Shovel them under and let me work--
3 I am the grass; I cover all.
6Shovel them under and let me work.
7Two years, ten years, and the passengers ask the conductor:
8 What place is this?
9 Where are we now?
10 I am the grass.
11 Let me work.
Notes
1] Austerlitz: a village, now named Slavkov, where on Dec. 2, 1805, Napoleon led an outnumbered French army to victory over Austrian and Russian forces.
Waterloo: Napoleon's final defeat, near this town in Belgium on June 18, 1815, by a European coalition including Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. Back to Line
Waterloo: Napoleon's final defeat, near this town in Belgium on June 18, 1815, by a European coalition including Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. Back to Line
4] Gettysberg: a decisive victory by the Union army in the American civil war was won near this Pennsylvania town July 1-3, 1863. Back to Line
5] Ypres: a town in Belgium at which three battles were fought in World War I (1914, 1915, and 1917) resulting in over 600,000 casualties and stalemate.
Verdun: during most of 1916 the Allied and German armies fought over this French town and castle, the battles ending indecisively with nearly 700,000 casualties. Back to Line
Verdun: during most of 1916 the Allied and German armies fought over this French town and castle, the battles ending indecisively with nearly 700,000 casualties. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1918
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Form