2.14.2026 – let it, love, go on

let it, love, go on
heartbeats are measured out with
a measuring glass

Let it go on; let the love of this hour be poured out till all the answers are made, the last dollar spent and the last blood gone.

Time runs with an ax and a hammer, time slides down the hallways with a pass-key and a master-key, and time gets by, time wins.

Let the love of this hour go on; let all the oaths and children and people of this love be clean as a washed stone under a waterfall in the sun.

Time is a young man with ballplayer legs, time runs a winning race against life and the clocks, time tickles with rust and spots.

Let love go on; the heartbeats are measured out with a measuring glass, so many apiece to gamble with, to use and spend and reckon; let love go on.

Let Love Go On by Carl Sandberg as published in Smoke and Steel in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandberg (Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1950).