| Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922. |
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| IV. Playthings of the Wind |
| 3. Ossawatomie |
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| I DON’T know how he came, | |
| shambling, dark, and strong. | |
| |
| He stood in the city and told men: | |
| My people are fools, my people are young and strong, my people must learn, my people are terrible workers and fighters. | |
| Always he kept on asking: Where did that blood come from? | 5 |
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| They said: You for the fool killer, you for the booby hatch and a necktie party. | |
| |
| They hauled him into jail. | |
| They sneered at him and spit on him, | |
| And he wrecked their jails, | |
| Singing, “God damn your jails,” | 10 |
| And when he was most in jail | |
| Crummy among the crazy in the dark | |
| Then he was most of all out of jail | |
| Shambling, dark, and strong, | |
| Always asking: Where did that blood come from? | 15 |
| They laid hands on him | |
| And the fool killers had a laugh | |
| And the necktie party was a go, by God. | |
| They laid hands on him and he was a goner. | |
| They hammered him to pieces and he stood up. | 20 |
| They buried him and he walked out of the grave, by God, | |
| Asking again: Where did that blood come from? | |
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