Carl Sandburg

Swirl

Swirl - meaning Summary

Absence Made Visible

This short poem compresses a moment of grief and longing into a single image of a swirl where a person once stood. The speaker recalls a past walk under a tree and an address to the moon, and expresses how small signs of presence can almost persuade them the lost person is still alive. The poem registers absence as a subtle, sensory trace that nearly becomes belief.

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A SWIRL in the air where your head was once, here. You walked under this tree, spoke to a moon for me I might almost stand here and believe you alive.

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