| Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922. |
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| VIII. Circles of Doors |
| 2. Hate |
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| ONE man killed another. The saying between them had been “I’d give you the shirt off my back.” | |
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| The killer wept over the dead. The dead if he looks back knows the killer was sorry. It was a shot in one second of hate out of ten years of love. | |
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| Why is the sun a red ball in the six o’clock mist? | |
| Why is the moon a tumbling chimney?… tumbling … tumbling … “I’d give you the shirt off my back” … And I’ll kill you if my head goes wrong. | |
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