Home > Poetry Magazine > Bilbea

Poetry Magazine

POEM
RELATED CONTENT Discover this poem's context and related poetry.

Bilbea

By Carl Sandburg 1878–1967 Carl Sandburg

(From tablet writing, Babylonian excavations of the 4th millennium B.C.)

Bilbea, I was in Babylon on Saturday night.

I saw nothing of you anywhere.

I was at the old place and the other girls were there,

But no Bilbea.

Have you gone to another house? or city?

Why don’t you write?

I was sorry. I walked home half-sick.

Tell me how it goes.

Send me some kind of a letter.

And take care of yourself.

Source: Poetry (October 1918).

Biography

"Trying to write briefly about Carl Sandburg," said a friend of the poet, "is like trying to picture the Grand Canyon in one black and white snapshot." His range of interests was enumerated by his close friend, Harry Golden, who, in his study of the poet, called Sandburg "the one American writer who distinguished himself in five fields—poetry, history, biography, fiction, and music."

Sandburg composed his poetry primarily in . . .

Continue reading this biography