1534: A Blessing | James Wright
"A Blessing"
James Wright
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.
On this day in...
2011: "Ramadan" by Kazim Ali
2010: "Evening, '74" by William Aberg
2009: Weekend, no poem
2008: Weekend, no poem
2007: "If You Forget Me" by Pablo Neruda
Hello! This is a request. What are your favorite happy poems? I realize I have lots of comforting poems, challenging poems, intriguing poems, and so forth, and not so many I-had-a-great-day poems. Anyone?
There is hope./There is hope everywhere./I bite it./Someone once said:/Don't bite till you know/if it's bread or stone./What I bite is all bread,/rising, yeasty as a cloud.
James Wright
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.
On this day in...
2011: "Ramadan" by Kazim Ali
2010: "Evening, '74" by William Aberg
2009: Weekend, no poem
2008: Weekend, no poem
2007: "If You Forget Me" by Pablo Neruda
Hello! This is a request. What are your favorite happy poems? I realize I have lots of comforting poems, challenging poems, intriguing poems, and so forth, and not so many I-had-a-great-day poems. Anyone?
There is hope./There is hope everywhere./I bite it./Someone once said:/Don't bite till you know/if it's bread or stone./What I bite is all bread,/rising, yeasty as a cloud.