A Fence

Carl Sandburg

1878 to 1967

Poem Image

Now the stone house on the lake front is finished and the workmen are beginning the fence 
The palings are made of iron bars with steel points that can stab the life out of any man who falls on them 
As a fence, it is a masterpiece, and will shut off the rabble and all vagabonds and hungry men and all wandering children looking for a place to play 
Passing through the bars and over the steel points will go nothing except Death and the Rain and Tomorrow