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the monarch and her mistress There was something about her that stoked the soul; a rekindling that made the heart beat a little faster, the lungs breath a little deeper. Long limbed and elegant, old enough to have walked in beauty, as well as owned it; possessing an aura that drew others in like the irresistible scent of gardenias; like cool fat grass to the toes. In God’s great plan, we were made for each other— the trees, feeding oxygen; humans, carbon dioxide… Even the Native Americans call them the Standing People— our extended family on this good earth walk. But it’s hard for me to separate The Monarch— that grand, old live oak in the Inge’s garden— from her Mistress. Indeed, rarely can I think of one, without the other. Both possess a stillness—a grace born unto them, yet nurtured and fed through the many years by the constant poetic exhalations of all those Texas Laureates who have clustered around their genteel feet. —for Dominique Inge In September 2010, the Monarch will be renamed the Texas Poets Laureate Tree. The dedication will commemorate the many Poets Laureate of the State of Texas who have read their poetry beneath the boughs of this great live oak. The tree lives on the property of Charles and Dominique Inge in Granbury, Texas. -32- ...

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