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Thomas Hardy - The Ivy-Wife
Work rating: Low

I LONGED to love a full-boughed beech
        And be as high as he:
     I stretched an arm within his reach,
        And signalled unity.
     But with his drip he forced a breach,
        And tried to poison me.

     I gave the grasp of partnership
        To one of other race—
     A plane: he barked him strip by strip
        From upper bough to base;
     And me therewith; for gone my grip,
        My arms could not enlace.

     In new affection next I strove
        To coll an ash I saw,
     And he in trust received my love;
        Till with my soft green claw
     I cramped and bound him as I wove…
        Such was my love: ha-ha!

     By this I gained his strength and height
        Without his rivalry.
     But in my triumph I lost sight
        Of afterhaps. Soon he,
     Being bark-bound, flagged, snapped, fell outright,
        And in his fall felled me!
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