Carl Sandburg

Troths

Troths - meaning Summary

Collecting Fragile Remembrances

The speaker gathers vivid sensory fragments of a loved one—tiny, bright images like dust on a bee, a woman’s asking eyes, and sunset embers—and deliberately piles them into memory. The act of collecting is conscious and tender, yet the speaker acknowledges mortality: "Death will break her claws" on some memories. The poem is about cherishing fragile traces of a person while accepting that some will be lost.

Read Complete Analyses

Yellow dust on a bumble bee's wing, Grey lights in a woman's asking eyes, Red ruins in the changing sunset embers: I take you and pile high the memories. Death will break her claws on some I keep.

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