In these seventy-seven poems, Carl Sandburg eloquently celebrates the themes that engaged him as a poet for more than half a century—courage, frailty, tenderness, and nature.
Excerpt
How long does love last?
As long as glass bubbles handled with care.
or two hot-house orchids in a blizzard
or one solid immovable steel anvil
tempered in sure inexorable welding-
or again love might last as
six snowflakes, six hexagonal snowflakes,
six floating hexagonal flakes of snow
or the oaths between hydrogen and oxygen
in one cup of spring water
or the eyes of bucks and does
or two wishes riding on the back of a
morning wind in winter
or one corner of an ancient tabernacle
held sacred for personal devotions
or dust yes
dust in a little solemn heap
played on by changing winds.
