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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PORTRAIT IN THE HORIZONTAL by RUTH FITCH BARTLETT

First Line: BY APPLE TREES LET HIM BE MEASURED
Last Line: OF OLD SAW MILLS.

By apple trees let him be measured,
Not by pines.
He has no spiked ambitions
But inclines
To tangle gestures, leisured,
Leaf-broken lines.

By fields and horizontal places,
Not by hills,
Nor Gothic cities judge him;
He fulfils
The destiny of ponds, behind the races
Of old saw mills.



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