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Read more poems by Carl Sandburg: Carl Sandburg Poems at Poetry X.

Undertakers, hearse drivers, grave diggers,
I speak to you as one not afraid of your business.

You handle dust going to a long country,
You know the secret behind your job is the same whether
     you lower the coffin with modern, automatic machinery,
     well-oiled and noiseless, or whether the
     body is laid in by naked hands and then covered
     by the shovels.

Your day's work is done with laughter many days of the year,
And you earn a living by those who say good-by today
     in thin whispers.

Added: 16 Jun 2002 | Last Read: 7 Jun 2025 11:31 PM | Viewed: 3888 times

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