by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)
Mill‑Doors
Language: English
You never come back.
I say good-by when I see you going in the doors,
The hopeless open doors that call and wait
And take you then for--how many cents a day?
How many cents for the sleepy eyes and fingers?
I say good-by because I know they tap your wrists,
In the dark, in the silence, day by day,
And all the blood of you drop by drop,
And you are old before you are young.
You never come back.
Text Authorship:
- by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967), "Mill-Doors", appears in Chicago Poems, first published 1916 [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 Norman Dello Joio (1913 - 2008), "Mill-Doors", published 1948 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Myron Silberstein (b. 1975), "Mill-Doors", 2015, from 2 Sandburg Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-07-08
Line count: 10
Word count: 81