Carl Sandburg




Horses and Men in the Rain

Let us sit by a hissing steam radiator a winter's day, gray wind
       pattering frozen raindrops on the window, 
And let us talk about milk wagon drivers and grocery delivery boys.

Let us keep our feet in wool slippers and mix hot punches--and talk 
      about mail carriers and messenger boys slipping along the icy 
      sidewalks. 
Let us write of olden, golden days and hunters of the Holy Grail 
      and men called "knights" riding horses in the rain, in the cold 
      frozen rain for ladies they loved. 
A roustabout hunched on a coal wagon goes by, icicles drip on his 
      hat rim, sheets of ice wrapping the hunks of coal, the caravanserai 
      a gray blur in slant of rain. 
Let us nudge the steam radiator with our wool slippers and write 
      poems of Launcelot, the hero, and Roland, the hero, and all 
      the olden golden men who rode horses in the rain.