| Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922. |
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| IV. Playthings of the Wind |
| 13. A. E. F. |
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| THERE will be a rusty gun on the wall, sweetheart, | |
| The rifle grooves curling with flakes of rust. | |
| A spider will make a silver string nest in the darkest, warmest corner of it. | |
| The trigger and the range-finder, they too will be rusty. | |
| And no hands will polish the gun, and it will hang on the wall. | 5 |
| Forefingers and thumbs will point absently and casually toward it. | |
| It will be spoken among half-forgotten, wished-to-be-forgotten things. | |
| They will tell the spider: Go on, you’re doing good work. | |
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