THE POPLAR TREE’S EFFACEMENT

The hurricane is stripping the woods.

I lull the tender-eyed lightning to sleep.

Let the great wind where I tremble

Marry the earth where I grow.

Its breath sharpens my vigil.

How turbid it is, the hollow

Of the sullied streambed’s lure!

A key will be my dwelling,

The feint of a fire the heart confirms;

And the air whose talon held it.

[NK]