What Astonishes

This poem (by a just-discovered poet) for the end of May, the wakening of those summer mornings that we feel beginning inch by inch while we 
sleep . . .

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.


We know the horses are there in the dark


meadow because we can smell them,


can hear them breathing. 


Our spirit persists like a man struggling 


through the frozen valley


who suddenly smells flowers


and realizes the snow is melting


out of sight on top of the mountain,


knows that spring has begun.

—Jack Gilbert

image:  Horses at Night, tinypic.com