We picked our way

down to the beach,

watching the waves

dragging out of our reach:

tangling tails, like a sodden sheet;

dangling entrails

from the gut of the sea.

[00:-1.00]

Hoarding our meals (alfalfa and rolls);

trying not to catch

the cold eyes of the gulls--

I hope Mother Nature has not

overheard!

(Though, she doles out hurt

like a puking bird.)

[00:-1.00]

We stayed for the winter.

No-one told us

about the laws of the land.

I hold my own.

But you, with your hunger--

you, on the other hand--

make yourself known.

[00:-1.00]

And when we were found,

I know we both grieved.

My heart made the sound of

snow falling from eaves.

You and me, Bess,

we were as thick as thieves.

So I swore, nonetheless, up and down,

it was only me.

They took me away,

and, after some time

studying my case,

must have made up their minds.

By the time you realized I was dying,

it must have been too late.

I believe you were not lying.

[00:-1.00]

It is the day.

I wake,

with my ears cocked up like a gun

(like every day, of course),

yanked by my wrists

to the sugar-front courtyard--

now tell me, what have I done?

It seems I have stolen a horse.

I step to the gallows.

Who do you think you are--

arching your hooves like a crane,

in the shallow gutter

that lines the

[00:-1.00]