Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Cornhuskers. 1918.

56. Chicks

THE CHICK in the egg picks at the shell, cracks open one oval world, and enters another oval world.

“Cheep … cheep … cheep” is the salutation of the newcomer, the emigrant, the casual at the gates of the new world.

“Cheep … cheep” … from oval to oval, sunset to sunset, star to star.

It is at the door of this house, this teeny weeny eggshell exit, it is here men say a riddle and jeer each other: who are you? where do you go from here?

(In the academies many books, at the circus many sacks of peanuts, at the club rooms many cigar butts.)

“Cheep … cheep” … from oval to oval, sunset to sunset, star to star.