What does the horse give you
That I cannot give you?
I watch you when you are alone,
When you ride into the field behind the dairy,
Your hands buried in the mare’s
Dark mane.
Then I know what lies behind your silence:
Scorn, hatred of me, of marriage. Still,
You want me to touch you; you cry out
As brides cry, but when I look at you I see
There are no children in your body.
Then what is there?
Nothing, I think. Only haste
To die before I die.
In a dream, I watched you ride the horse
Over the dry fields and then
Dismount: you two walked together;
In the dark, you had no shadows.
But I felt them coming toward me
Since at night they go anywhere,
They are their own masters.
Look at me. You think I don’t understand?
What is the animal
If not passage out of this life?
(Louise Gluck)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Night Poems, Dreams Poems, Cry Poems, Silence Poems, Body Poems, Hatred Poems, Horse Poems, Marriage Poems, Animals PoemsBased on Keywords: mane, mare, brides, dairy, dismount