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Shagbark Hickory

by Carl Sandburg, 1920

In the moonlight under a shag-bark hickory tree
 Watching the yellow shadows melt in hoof-pools,
 Listening to the yes and the no of a woman’s hands,
 I kept my guess why the night was glad.

 The night was lit with a woman’s eyes.
 The night was crossed with a woman’s hands,
 The night kept humming an undersong.

Published in Smoke and Steel
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