Back Yard
Shine on, O moon of summer.
Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak,
All silver under your rain to-night.
An Italian boy is sending songs to you to-night from an accordion.
A Polish boy is out with his best girl; they marry next
month; to-night they are throwing you kisses.
An old man next door is dreaming over a sheen that sits in a cherry tree in his back yard.
The clocks say I must go – I stay here sitting on the
back porch drinking white thoughts you rain down.
Shine on, O moon,
Shake out more and more silver changes.
~~
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
from Chicago Poems, 1916
[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]
Carl Sandburg biography
Great example of a Carl Sandburg slice of life.
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