Cornhuskers/Chicago Poet

by Carl Sandburg

CHICAGO POET

I saluted a nobody.

I saw him in a looking-glass.

He smiled—so did I.

He crumpled the skin on his forehead, frowning—so did I.

Everything I did he did.

I said, "Hello, I know you."

And I was a liar to say so.

Ah, this looking-glass man!

Liar, fool, dreamer, play-actor,

Soldier, dusty drinker of dust—

Ah! he will go with me

Down the dark stairway

When nobody else is looking,

When everybody else is gone.

He locks his elbow in mine, I lose all—but not him.