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"Holy"

Listen to Sophie Cabot Black reading this poem. At the cross of the cross Is the part that holds. Two roads Meet; after that is the work of continuing

On. Beyond intersection
Lies departure, which is then to see
What goes on without you what

Does not go wrong. One tree reconciles
Against another; arm over arm,
A man across a woman in a contract

Of the one thing they know
They do well, which is the beginning
Of how one will soon leave

The other. They cannot turn back
For what they have made in the air
Already discloses agreement, and

Is where many have stopped to rest.

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Sophie Cabot Black's books of poems are Misunderstanding of Natureand The Descent, which received the 2005 Connecticut Book Award. She teaches at Columbia University.

Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.To submit poetry to Slate, send up to five poems and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Robert Pinsky, Slate Magazine, Boston University, 236 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215.