WEBVTT

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A poem, Mirror In February,
deals with a somewhat more

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recent encounter.

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"The day dawns
with scent of must

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and rain, of open soil,
dark trees, dry bedroom air.

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Under the fading
lamp, half-dressed--

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my brain idling on some
compulsive fantasy--

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I towel my shaven lip
and stop, and stare,

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riveted by a dark exhausted
eye, a dry down-turning mouth.

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It seems again that
it is time to learn,

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in this untiring crumbling place
of growth to which for the time

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being, I return.

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Now, plainly in the
mirror of my soul

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I read that I have looked my
last on youth and little more:

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for they are not made whole
that reach the age of Christ.

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Below my window, the
awakening trees, hacked clean

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for better bearing,
stand defaced,

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suffering their
brute necessities.

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And how should the flesh not
quail, that span for span

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is mutilated more?

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In slow distaste, I fold my
towel with what grace I can.

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Not young, and not
renewable, but man."

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