by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)
Grass
Language: English
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work --
I am the grass; I cover all.
And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?
I am the grass.
Let me work.
Text Authorship:
- by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967), "Grass", appears in Cornhuskers, first published 1918 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Frederic Patton Hart (b. 1898), "Grass", published 1954 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fenno Heath , "Grass", published 1953 [ baritone and TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ty Kroll , "Grass", 2004 [ SSAATTB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-07-07
Line count: 11
Word count: 67