I shall hate you
Like a dart of singing steel
Shot through still air
At even-tide.
Or solemnly
As pines are sober
When they stand etched
Against the sky
Hating you shall be a game
Played with cool hands
And slim fingers
Your heart will yearn
For the lonely splendor
Of the pine tree
The surface imagery of the darts in the beginning now makes more sense. There are two settings occurring side by side in this poem: an open forest and a billiard room. These lines evoke images of a game of pool, as a certain delicacy is required to achieve accuracy in cue ball games. The speaker is saying that she will hate the subject as if she were playing a game of pool- calm and collected, but deadly accurate when she has a target in mind. 

Hatred