Give the Lake a Moment to Speak About the Horses
I have a heart. It is full
of horses. My mother’s
heart, the horses.
In the lake’s center,
rain breathes down.
Someone lies bedridden.
Someone’s brother
goes estranged. For years,
hooves steep in mud,
a mare’s bent knee.
Closure is the rain
dripping over blood-lined leaves
above our dream lake. No,
the water was never blue.
No, don’t catch
this heart. Sadness, too,
it carries. Which horse
do you carry?
That’s what you need to know.
Copyright Credit: Carlie Hoffman, "The Women Gather at Biala River at Night" from When there was light. Copyright © 2023 by Carlie Hoffman. Reprinted by permission of Four Way Books, www.fourwaybooks.com.
Source: When there was light (Four Way Books, 2023)