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99
DEEPHEART WOOD
I've dreamed in many an ancient wood
Of many a sweet and byegone kiss
Exchanged between a god and girl;
But never in a wood like this.
Of many a sweet and byegone kiss
Exchanged between a god and girl;
But never in a wood like this.
Had it not grown a long-loved haunt
Of deities swift as tongues of fire,
Its leafy pulse could never throb
In recollection of desire.
Of deities swift as tongues of fire,
Its leafy pulse could never throb
In recollection of desire.
Recalling how he used to count
Bright acorns in a Beauty's lap,
A god gave knowledge to the trees
And mingled memory with their sap.
Bright acorns in a Beauty's lap,
A god gave knowledge to the trees
And mingled memory with their sap.
So long as father oaks beget
Their baby patterns, and the strength
Of sunshine, working on the young,
Gives bark and bough, and leaf and length;
Their baby patterns, and the strength
Of sunshine, working on the young,
Gives bark and bough, and leaf and length;
So long as passion comes in bud,
And history returns in green,
The Wood of Deepheart shall inform
The sensitive of what has been.
And history returns in green,
100
The sensitive of what has been.
Be sure the now departed race
Of Dryads once was numerous here!
Be sure a dimpling god has lain
Among the ferns, to catch a Dear!
Of Dryads once was numerous here!
Be sure a dimpling god has lain
Among the ferns, to catch a Dear!
With threads of moss upon her skin
She neared the trap. The god leapt tall
And filled his hands with dark-brown hair . . .
Enchanted sap remembers all,
She neared the trap. The god leapt tall
And filled his hands with dark-brown hair . . .
Enchanted sap remembers all,
And tells the foliage; this reports
The lovely unmolested truth
Of Long Ago, and frets my heart
With stabbings of recovered youth.
The lovely unmolested truth
Of Long Ago, and frets my heart
With stabbings of recovered youth.
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