Halsted Street Car

Carl Sandburg

 COME you, cartoonists,   
      Hang on a strap with me here   
      At seven o’clock in the morning   
      On a Halsted street car.   
 
            Take your pencils       
            And draw these faces.   
 
Try with your pencils for these crooked faces,   
That pig-sticker in one corner—his mouth—   
That overall factory girl—her loose cheeks.   
 
            Find for your pencils         
            A way to mark your memory   
            Of tired empty faces.   
 
            After their night’s sleep,   
            In the moist dawn   
            And cool daybreak,      
              Faces   
            Tired of wishes,   
            Empty of dreams.