"A Blessing" by 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.

"A Blessing," by James Wright, from Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose. ©Wesleyan University Press, 1990. 

"March," by James Wright

 

A bear under the snow

Turns over to yawn.

It's been a long, hard rest.

Once, as she lay asleep, her cubs fell

Out of her hair,

And she did not know them.

It's hard to breathe

In a tight grave:

So she roars,

And the roof breaks.

Dark rivers and leaves

Pour down.

When the wind opens its doors

In its own good time,

The cubs follow that relaxed and beautiful woman

Outside to the unfamiliar cities

Of moss.

"March" by James Wright, from Above the River: The Collected Poems.

Wesleyan University Press, 1992.