I am the People, the Mob

Carl Sandburg

1878 to 1967

Poem Image

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