Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight
       Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe
       them, for I have seen your painted
       women under the gas lamps luring the
       farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer:
       Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman
       kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply
       is: On the faces of women and children I
       have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to
       those who sneer at this my city, and I
       give them back the sneer and say to
       them:
Come and show me another city with lifted
       head singing so proud to be alive and
       coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling
       job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set
       vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action,
       cunning as a savage pitted against the
       wilderness,
               Bareheaded,
               Shoveling,
               Wrecking,
               Planning,
               Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth,
        laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing
        as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs
        who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is
        the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of
        the people,
                     Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter
        of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to
        be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of
        Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight
        Handler to the Nation.