| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962). Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1920. 1920. |
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| The Lawyers Know Too Much |
| | | Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) |
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| THE LAWYERS, Bob, know too much. | |
| They are chums of the books of old John Marshall. | |
| They know it all, what a dead hand Wrote, | |
| A stiff dead hand and its knuckles crumbling, | |
| The bones of the fingers a thin white ash. | 5 |
| The lawyers know | |
| a dead man’s thoughts too well. | |
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| In the heels of the higgling lawyers, Bob, | |
| Too many slippery ifs and buts and howevers, | |
| Too much hereinbefore provided whereas, | 10 |
| Too many doors to go in and out of. | |
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| When the lawyers are through | |
| What is there left, Bob? | |
| Can a mouse nibble at it | |
| And find enough to fasten a tooth in? | 15 |
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| Why is there always a secret singing | |
| When a lawyer cashes in? | |
| Why does a hearse horse snicker | |
| Hauling a lawyer away? | |
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| The work of a bricklayer goes to the blue. | 20 |
| The knack of a mason outlasts a moon. | |
| The hands of a plasterer hold a room together. | |
| The land of a farmer wishes him back again. | |
| Singers of songs and dreamers of plays | |
| Build a house no wind blows over. | 25 |
The lawyers—tell me why a hearse horse snickers hauling a lawyer’s bones.
The Dial | |
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