Grass by Carl Sandburg

Today is Veteran's Day, but it is also Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I. At the time it was thought to be the war to end all wars, but it didn't turn out that way. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Sandburg was a Swedish-American poet who was prized for his genius with words. In this work, the narrator reflects on past wars and their lasting effects. Pictured here is a WWI battlefield. 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.