Fog


One of the shortest and most famous poems in American literature, "Fog" was written in 1916 and appeared in Sandburg's Chicago Poems. In just six lines, Sandburg compares fog rolling over a harbor to a cat — an image so vivid and precise that the poem has become a touchstone of imagist poetry. It is one of the most memorized poems in American schools.
Claude Lorrain, Port Scene with Fog, 1646 — Fog by Carl Sandburg
Claude Lorrain, Port Scene with Fog, 1646 — Fog by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.