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Home  »  Smoke and Steel  »  10. Sandpipers

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922.

V. Mist Forms

10. Sandpipers

TEN miles of flat land along the sea.

Sandland where the salt water kills the sweet potatoes.

Homes for sandpipers—the script of their feet is on the sea shingles—they write in the morning, it is gone at noon—they write at noon, it is gone at night.

Pity the land, the sea, the ten mile flats, pity anything but the sandpiper’s wire legs and feet.