I Am The People, The Mob

I AM the people — the mob—the crowd—the mass.

Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?

I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the

    world's food and clothes.

I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons

    come from me and the Lincolns.

I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand

    for much plowing. Terrible storms pass over me.

    I forget. The best of me is sucked out and wasted.

    I forget. Everything but death comes to me and

    makes me work and give up what I have. And I

    forget.

Sometimes I grows, shake myself and spatter a few red

    drops for history to remember. Then—I forget.

When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the

    People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer

    forget who robbed me last year, who played me for

    a fool—then there will be no speaker in all the world

    say the name: "The People," with any fleck of a

    sneer in his voice or any far off smile of derision.

The mob—the crowd—the mass—will arrive then.

Composition date is unknown - the above date represents the first publication date.The lyrical form of this poem is unrhyming.Napoleons implies the great military leaders such as Napoleon (Bonaparte) I, emperor of the French(1769-1821)Lincolns implies the great political leaders such as Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), 16th President of theUnited States.fleck means trace