Horses At Midnight Without A Moon
Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods.
Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt.
But there’s music in us. Hope is pushed down
but the angel flies up again taking us with her.
The summer mornings begin inch by inch
while we sleep, and walk with us later
as long-legged beauty through
the dirty streets. It is no surprise
that danger and suffering surround us.
What astonishes is the singing
– the remainder of Jack Gilbert’s poem is here, and apparently I mis-linked to a poem by David Budhillas well. It’s a lovely one, too, and I had trouble deciding between the two. Bonus poetry this week!
Thanks, all, for the kind words this week. Poetry Friday is over at Wild Rose Reader. Hope you join in.
Gorgeous imagery, and so spare. Love it. Favorite part:
and walk with us later
as long-legged beauty through
the dirty streets.
Thanks, Tanita!
One of my very very very favorite poets (so much so that I just snuck his work into a novel). Thank you for choosing this.
Oh, Kel, thank you. I had trouble deciding between the two, and my subconscious decided for both!
Thank you for both of these poems. I am familiar with Gilbert but had not read Budhill before.
Love both poems. The Budhillas one especially resonated: crippling power of mind and curse of thought. So very true.
This is so uplifting.
Man, those both just rock. Yes, I'm still sitting here. Going to email them to a few friends (plus, Liz Garton Scanlon's selection today — did you see it? Three best poems I've read all day)…
Gilbert's is gorgeous! Thank you. He's new to me. And Budbill, too. I'm going to go re-read the latter. What he writes about = something I yearn for.
That line "The summer mornings begin inch by inch
while we sleep" slays me.
This looks so much like the moon I saw last night. Lovely!
Loving both of the Budbill poems you linked to – the one you excerpted appears not to match up with the one to which you linked, though.
Still, I'm glad – it made me want to seek out and read still more of his work!