A Different Kind of Blessing

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.