I could love you
 as dry roots love rain.
 I could hold you
 as branches in the wind
 brandish petals.
 Forgive me for speaking so soon.

     Let your heart look
     on white sea spray
     and be lonely.

     Love is a fool star.

     You and a ring of stars
     may mention my name
     and then forget me.

     Love is a fool star.

Carl Sandburg’s poetry is read by nearly all high school freshmen, but only a few well known poems receive much attention. His ability to capture the vulnerability and tenderness of life, whether the subject is love or the contrast of skyscraper and flaming sky, in just a few words infuses his writing, from the stories of Rootabaga Country to the passion-filled poems of Honey and Salt. I like this poem because its images so precisely reflect the offering and fear of, or perceived, or actual rebuff that new love is so susceptible to.

— Cheryl