Horse Heaven
       

One day I will cross this road
into the neighbor's field for the last time
and wade into the high grass
as I would into water

And I will see a horse I have never seen
standing easily in the greenness of the world
without effort or impatience
its warm nuzzling mouth
the delicate pastern and hock
being the indelible signs of its likeness

And I will think there is nothing but horse
that could carry me to the edge
of everything I have ever known
through any desert or alpine cold
its belly ribbed and hard
its haunches ropes of muscle

And should there be a sudden upthrust of wind
I will whisper to it a prayer of gratitude
for all its watchfulness

And if the rain swells in a heave
stinging my back I will take shelter
under the great vault of its neck

And if anyone should ask
what I would wish for in this field
where no one might ask anything of me again

I will say it is to be surrounded
by the insistent odor of horse
to see its ears tuning themselves to the slightest sound
to feel as it must feel
the grass growing noiselessly
under the four dominions of its hooves.

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Copyright © 2021 Gregory Djanikian All rights reserved
from Sojourners of the In-Between
Carnegie Mellon University Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission