Shagbark Hickory
Shagbark Hickory - meaning Summary
Night Made Glad by Love
This brief poem records a sensual evening under a shagbark hickory as the speaker watches moonlight and listens to a woman’s gestures. The imagery condenses sight, touch and sound—the woman’s eyes, hands and an "undersong"—to explain why the night feels glad. Ambivalence in the "yes and no" suggests emotional complexity, while nature mirrors intimacy, making the scene both luminous and quietly musical.
Read Complete AnalysesIN 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.
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