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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CRIPPLE by CARL SANDBURG

Poet Analysis

First Line: ONCE WHEN I SAW A CRIPPLE
Last Line: THE CLEAR SILENT PROCESSIONAL OF STARS.
Subject(s): PHYSICAL DISABILITIES; HANDICAPPED; HANDICAPS; PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED; CRIPPLES;

Once when I saw a cripple
Gasping slowly his last days with the white plague,
Looking from hollow eyes, calling for air,
Desperately gesturing with wasted hands
In the dark and dust of a house down in a slum,
I said to myself
I would rather have been a tall sunflower
Living in a country garden
Lifting a golden-brown face to the summer,
Rain-washed and dew-misted,
Mixed with the poppies and ranking hollyhocks,
And wonderingingly watching night after night
The clear silent processional of stars.



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