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Carl Sandburg
1878-1967"The Hangman at Home"
(1920)
- What does a hangman think about
- When he goes home at night from work?
- When he sits down with his wife and
- Children for a cup of coffee and a
- Plate of ham and eggs, do they ask
- Him if it was a good day's work
- And everything went well or do they
- Stay off some topics and kill about
- The weather, baseball, politics
- And the comic strips in the papers
- And the movies? Do they look at his
- Hands when he reaches for the coffee
- Or the ham and eggs? If the little
- Ones say, Daddy, play horse, here's
- A rope – does he answer like a joke:
- I seen enough rope for today?
- Or does his face light up like a
- Bonfire of joy and does he say:
- It's a good and dandy world we live
- In. And if a white face moon looks
- In through a window where a baby girl
- Sleeps and the moon-gleams mix with
- Baby ears and baby hair – the hangman –
- How does he act then? It must be easy
- For him. Anything is easy for a hangman,
- I guess.
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