Poem a Day: New and classic poems provided by the Academy of American Poets
Black Horizons
Carl Sandburg
Black horizons, come up.
Black horizons, kiss me.
That is all; so many lies; killing so cheap;
babies so cheap; blood, people so cheap; and
land high, land dear; a speck of the earth
costs; a suck at the tit of Mother Dirt so
clean and strong, it costs; fences, papers,
sheriffs; fences, laws, guns; and so many
stars and so few hours to dream; such a big
song and so little a footing to stand and
sing; take a look; wars to come; red rivers
to cross.
Black horizons, come up.
Black horizons, kiss me.
About this poem: “Black Horizons” was originally published in Sandburg’s collection “Slabs of the Sunburnt West” (Harcourt Brace, 1922).
About Carl Sandburg: Carl Sandburg was born in Galesburg, Ill., in 1878. He published numerous books of poetry and won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. Sandburg died in Flat Rock, N.C., in 1967.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
This poem is in the public domain.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
