"The Noon Hour"
by Carl Sandburg
SHE sits in the dust at the walls
And makes cigars,
Bending at the bench
With fingers wage-anxious,
Changing her sweat for the day's pay.
Now the noon hour has come,
And she leans with her bare arms
On the window-sill over the river,
Leans and feels at her throat
At her throat and eyes and nostrils
The touch and the blowing cool
Of great free ways beyond the walls.