sea-wash never ends the sea-wash repeats, repeats that all the sea knows?
The sea-wash never ends. The sea-wash repeats, repeats. Only old songs? Is that all the sea knows? Only the old strong songs? Is that all? The sea-wash repeats, repeats.
Sea-Wash by Carl Sandburg as published under Mist Forms in Smoke and Steel in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace: New York, 1970).
I am reminded of the Bible verses in the Book of Jeremiah 5:22:
I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
Only old songs? Is that all the sea knows? Only the old strong songs? Is that all? The sea-wash repeats, repeats.
was swallowed one time deep in the dark and came out alive after all
If I should pass the tomb of Jonah I would stop there and sit for a while; Because I was swallowed one time deep in the dark And came out alive after all.
If I pass the burial spot of Nero I shall say to the wind, “Well, well!” — I who have fiddled in a world on fire, I who have done so many stunts not worth doing.
I am looking for the grave of Sinbad too. I want to shake his ghost-hand and say, “Neither of us died very early, did we?”
And the last sleeping-place of Nebuchadnezzar — When I arrive there I shall tell the wind: “You ate grass; I have eaten crow — Who is better off now or next year?”
Jack Cade, John Brown, Jesse James, There too I could sit down and stop for a while. I think I could tell their headstones: “God, let me remember all good losers.”
I could ask people to throw ashes on their heads In the name of that sergeant at Belleau Woods, Walking into the drumfires, calling his men, “Come on, you … Do you want to live forever?”
Losers by Carl Sandburg as published in Smoke and Steel in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace: New York, 1970).
death is stronger than all proud men, throws pair of dice says: read ’em and weep
Death is stronger than all the governments because the governments are men and men die and then death laughs: Now you see ’em, now you don’t.
Death is stronger than all proud men and so death snips proud men on the nose, throws a pair of dice and says: Read ’em and weep.
Death sends a radiogram every day: When I want you I’ll drop in — and then one day he comes with a master-key and lets himself in and says: We’ll go now.
Death is a nurse mother with big arms: ‘Twont hurt you at all; it’s your time now; you just need a long sleep, child; what have you had anyhow better than sleep?
Death Snips Proud Men by Carl Sandburg as published in Smoke and Steel in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace: New York, 1970).
Worth repeating.
Death is stronger than all the governments because the governments are men and men die and then death laughs: Now you see ’em, now you don’t.
Death is stronger than all proud men and so death snips proud men on the nose, throws a pair of dice and says: Read ’em and weep.
Worth repeating, but who will listen?
Death sends a radiogram every day: When I want you I’ll drop in — and then one day he comes with a master-key and lets himself in and says: We’ll go now.
the greatest city, the greatest nation, nothing … like us ever was
It has happened before. Strong men put up a city and got a nation together, And paid singers to sing and women to warble: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation, nothing like us ever was.
And while the singers sang and the strong men listened and paid the singers well and felt good about it all, there were rats and lizards who listened … and the only listeners left now … are … the rats … and the lizards.
And there are black crows crying, “Caw, caw,” bringing mud and sticks building a nest over the words carved on the doors where the panels were cedar and the strips on the panels were gold and the golden girls came singing: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation: nothing like us ever was.
The only singers now are crows crying, “Caw, caw,” And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways. And the only listeners now are … the rats … and the lizards.
Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind, #3 by Carl Sandburg as published in Smoke and Steel in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace: New York, 1970).
We don’t carry One Dollar bills any more but I had Professor back in college where I studied United States History who gave a one hour lecture based on the back of the One Dollar Bill.
He hit on the In God We Trust and pointed out the Mason’s All Seeing Eye at the top of the unfinished pyramid.
Then he hit on Novus ordo seclorum and that meant, The New Order of the Ages.
And finished with Annuit Coeptis or God has approved our undertaking.
Well sir, it has happened before.
The only singers now are crows crying, “Caw, caw,”
And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways.
And the only listeners now are … the rats … and the lizards.
I will also mention the Great Seal of the United States.
Notice the Eagle looks towards the olive branches.
This was a change made by President Truman after WW2.
Had anyone in the current administration had any education in the Presidency, they might have caught and changed that too.
