Drawing by Judith Wolfe
Lisa Marie Brodsky

Poem


      THE HORSE AND THE PUDDLE

      So often I feel like
      a different animal than you.
      So often a horse. Do you know
      of horses and puddles?
      Imagine them riding along the moors
      or riding through the fields just after
      a rain. A puddle could be anything to the horse:
      an ocean twenty feet deep.
      a step
      shallow and safe.

      Death.
      They just never know.

      It rained last night.
      Not a mist you drink; it rained a whole song.
      The horses whinnied from fear.

      Have I told you, I mean
      Have I at least whispered
      That the chasm between This and That
      Is a puddle to a horse?

      Have I told you I haven't crossed yet?
      I and the horse - then I as the horse.
      Do you see? Do you see me on the other side?
      Tell me, do you see?


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