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THE PULSE BENEATH THE BARK, by                    
First Line: Is there not breath and spirit in this tree
Last Line: Which fires the oak and homer with one spark?


Is there not breath and spirit in this tree
That stoically weathers heat and storm
And gives no sign? Beneath this shaggy form,
Does secret force not stream invisibly?
Are there not hints no flesh-bound eye can see
Of powers that stride the breezes? dreams that warm
And bless, while leafy children, swarm on swarm,
Burgeon, turn bronze and gold, and flutter free?
If we could read the pulse beneath the bark
And catch the stirs and tremors of the wood,
Would we not find a something known, and mark
How man and maple merge in brotherhood,
And note a sameness, dimly understood,
Which fires the oak and Homer with one spark?





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