| Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Cornhuskers. 1918. |
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| 80. Fire Dreams |
| | | (Written to be read aloud, if so be, Thanksgiving Day) |
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| I REMEMBER here by the fire, | |
| In the flickering reds and saffrons, | |
| They came in a ramshackle tub, | |
| Pilgrims in tall hats, | |
| Pilgrims of iron jaws, | 5 |
| Drifting by weeks on beaten seas, | |
| And the random chapters say | |
| They were glad and sang to God. | |
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| And so | |
| Since the iron-jawed men sat down | 10 |
| And said, “Thanks, O God,” | |
| For life and soup and a little less | |
| Than a hobo handout to-day, | |
| Since gray winds blew gray patterns of sleet on Plymouth Rock, | |
| Since the iron-jawed men sang “Thanks, O God,” | 15 |
| You and I, O Child of the West, | |
| Remember more than ever | |
| November and the hunter’s moon, | |
| November and the yellow-spotted hills. | |
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| And so | 20 |
| In the name of the iron-jawed men | |
| I will stand up and say yes till the finish is come and gone. | |
| God of all broken hearts, empty hands, sleeping soldiers, | |
| God of all star-flung beaches of night sky, | |
| I and my love-child stand up together to-day and sing: “Thanks, O God.” | 25 |
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