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Fence
Carl Sandburg - Jennifer Marohasy
October 1915 - July 2017
As a fence, it is a masterpiece, and will shut off the rabble and all vagabonds and hungry men and all wandering children looking for a place to play.
Passing through the bars and over the steel points will go nothing except Death and the Rain and Tomorrow.
First published in Poetry, A Magazine of Verse. Vol vii. No. I. /Republished from Poetryfoundation.org
Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) was an American poet, writer, and editor. Two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. His works, such as Chicago Poems and The People, Yes, reflect his deep connection to the struggles and triumphs of everyday people.
The poem resonates with me because it captures the tension between human efforts to control and exclude versus the unstoppable forces of life. It invites reflection on the barriers we create and the things that ultimately unite us all.
Jennifer Marohasy's Counterpoints & Storybooks is reader-supported.
"Death," "the Rain," and "To-morrow"—cannot be stopped by the fence. These elements represent inevitabilities and universal truths that transcend human-made barriers. Death is unavoidable, rain symbolises nature's persistence, and Tomorrow reflects the passage of time and the future's inevitability.
There is absolutely a need for a new theory of climate resilience. I’m working towards exactly that.