Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
LosersCarl Sandburg
I
I would stop there and sit for awhile;
Because I was swallowed one time deep in the dark
And came out alive after all.
I shall say to the wind, “Well, well!”—
I who have fiddled in a world on fire,
I who have done so many stunts not worth doing.
I want to shake his ghost-hand and say,
“Neither of us died very early, did we?”
When I arrive there I shall tell the wind:
“You ate grass; I have eaten crow—
Who is better off now or next year?”
There too I could sit down and stop for awhile.
I think I could tell their headstones:
“God, let me remember all good losers.”
In the name of that sergeant at Belleau Woods,
Walking into the drumfires, calling his men,
“Come on, you ——! Do you want to live forever?”