The Dusk Of Horses Poem by James Dickey

The Dusk Of Horses

Rating: 3.8


Right under their noses, the green
Of the field is paling away
Because of something fallen from the sky.

They see this, and put down
Their long heads deeper in grass
That only just escapes reflecting them

As the dream of a millpond would.
The color green flees over the grass
Like an insect, following the red sun over

The next hill. The grass is white.
There is no cloud so dark and white at once;
There is no pool at dawn that deepens

Their faces and thirsts as this does.
Now they are feeding on solid
Cloud, and, one by one,

With nails as silent as stars among the wood
Hewed down years ago and now rotten,
The stalls are put up around them.

Now if they lean, they come
On wood on any side. Not touching it, they sleep.
No beast ever lived who understood

What happened among the sun's fields,
Or cared why the color of grass
Fled over the hill while he stumbled,

Led by the halter to sleep
On his four taxed, worthy legs.
Each thinks he awakens where

The sun is black on the rooftop,
That the green is dancing in the next pasture,
And that the way to sleep

In a cloud, or in a risen lake,
Is to walk as though he were still
in the drained field standing, head down,

To pretend to sleep when led,
And thus to go under the ancient white
Of the meadow, as green goes

And whiteness comes up through his face
Holding stars and rotten rafters,
Quiet, fragrant, and relieved.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Rajan T Renganathan 30 March 2023

Nice poem to read.

0 0 Reply
M Asim Nehal 01 January 2017

Nice poem with fantastic imageries. Thanks for sharing.

2 0 Reply
A. Madhavan 26 June 2016

I would like readers to see my poem, written many years ago, and posted on PH: Pounding Hooves. The image came to me in a dream, with the sound of he hooves clattering on the road outside, in a small town. I wanted to convey it as a metaphor. Ananta Madhavan

2 0 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 26 June 2016

One by one! Nice work.

1 0 Reply
Brian Jani 10 May 2014

Very well written, I like it

1 0 Reply
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James Dickey

James Dickey

Atlanta, Georgia
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