abigail414's diaryland diary
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First Sunset at Outler's Ranch, by Enid Shomer
If I went there a second time
surely the sunset would seem
no more than a daily scald
of sky that is healed by nightfall.
Horses, chest-high in water
lipping marsh grass
would stumble back to shore.
The pond would not unfurl
in the lengthening light
like a bolt of crushed silk
and roosting birds
would preen lice
not stars
from their wings.
But the first time
when I had left the city's
furnaces, levers and locks,
when I lay in the hammock
and the moist pond air
quickened like a lover's breath,
when the sun sank and all along
the banks horses rose dripping
like gods from the marrow
of the earth, the first
time I said oh this
this is
the world.
I found this poem in a magazine in 1990 and saved it as a clipping, which got lost in one of my many moves last year. I recently found a used bookstore online that had it (Stalking the Florida Panther), and today when I came home for lunch, it was waiting for me in the mailbox. Before I could do anything, I had to find this poem. It has always brought tears to my eyes and still does. So thought I'd share it with you.
2:37 p.m. - 2006-08-14
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