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By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
Desire and weakness unfold beneath stars and willow, while worn-out worlds demand renewal rather than passive wonder.
The poem's ominousness comes from its strange mix of courtship, command, work, railroad loss, illness, and return. Repeated permission to do it if you can turns renewal into both dare and burden.
'Ominous' pairs a courtship with foreboding: 'She thinks the stars and wonders the world in kind,' while 'He followers her and wonders why her is not so strong.' A promise to 'dance across the world' dissolves into the chanted, slipping refrain 'Do it if you can,, do it if you car, do it if you can,' and the demand to 'See the sourse as burned out and needs to be renewed.' Industrial loss sounds through 'Work is a whistle' and 'you can't leaf with the railroad anymore,' before the title's menace lands in the close: the British 'stif upper lip' answered by 'arn't aids and hepitais,, / the best part of learning.' Disease and ruin masquerade as instruction. Source spellings 'followers,' 'her is,' 'car,' 'sourse,' 'leaf,' 'stif,' 'arn't,' and 'hepitais' are preserved.