Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SANDHILL PEOPLE, by CARL SANDBURG


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SANDHILL PEOPLE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I took away three pictures
Last Line: Wears between sunset and dusk.
Subject(s): Death; Love; Silence; Dead, The


I took away three pictures.
One was a white gull forming a half-mile arch from the pines toward Waukegan.
One was a whistle in the little sandhills, a bird crying either to the sunset gone or the dusk
come.
One was three spotted waterbirds, zigzagging, cutting scrolls and jags, writing a bird Sanscrit of
wing points, half over the sand, half over the water, a half-love for the sea, a half-love for
the land.

I took away three thoughts.
One was a thing my people call "love," a shut-in river hunting the sea, breaking white falls
between tall clefs of hill country.
One was a thing my people call "silence," the wind running over the butter faced sand-flowers,
running over the sea, and never heard of again.
One was a thing my people call "death," neither a whistle in the little sandhills, nor a bird
Sanscrit of wing points, yet a coat all the stars and seas have worn, yet a face the beach
wears between sunset and dusk.





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