Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NOON HOUR by CARL SANDBURG

Poet Analysis

First Line: SHE SITS IN THE DUST AT THE WALLS
Last Line: OF GREAT FREE WAYS BEYOND THE WALLS.
Subject(s): LABOR & LABORERS; WOMEN; WORK; WORKERS;
SHE sits in the dust at the walls
And makes cigars,
Bending at the bench
With fingers wage-anxious,
Changing her sweat for the day's pay.

Now the noon hour has come,
And she leans with her bare arms
On the window-sill over the river,
Leans and feels at her throat
Cool-moving things out of the free open ways:

At her throat and eyes and nostrils
The touch and the blowing cool
Of great free ways beyond the walls.



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