I Am The People, The Mob Poem by Carl Sandburg

I Am The People, The Mob

Rating: 3.0


I Am the people--the mob--the crowd--the mass.
Do you know that all the great work of the world is
done through me?
I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the
world's food and clothes.
I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons
come from me and the Lincolns. They die. And
then I send forth more Napoleons and Lincolns.
I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand
for much plowing. Terrible storms pass over me.
I forget. The best of me is sucked out and wasted.
I forget. Everything but Death comes to me and
makes me work and give up what I have. And I
forget.
Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red
drops for history to remember. Then--I forget.
When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the
People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer
forget who robbed me last year, who played me for
a fool--then there will be no speaker in all the world
say the name: 'The People,' with any fleck of a
sneer in his voice or any far-off smile of derision.
The mob--the crowd--the mass--will arrive then.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Deepak Vohra 07 January 2024

I have translated it into the Hindi language and it has been published in a reputed publication. If you want to share it, I can.

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Michael Walker 06 November 2019

'The people' I see as a positive term. They are the ones who do all the work in a country, but seldom get recognition, unlike the Napoleons and Lincolns. A poem about the people had to be written, which Carl Sandburg has done so well.

0 0 Reply
Leah Ross 20 May 2016

very profound write well penned

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