Sandpipers
Sandpipers - meaning Summary
Ephemeral Marks on Shore
Sandpipers sketches a coastal scene where a harsh, saline landscape contrasts with the fragile, fleeting activity of small shorebirds. The poem focuses on transient traces: the birds' footprints are described as a temporary script that appears and vanishes with the tides. The speaker expresses sympathy for the environment yet reserves special attention for the sandpipers, whose delicate legs and ephemeral markings give meaning and motion to an otherwise indifferent shore.
Read Complete AnalysesSandland 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.
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