Dear Lily,
A poem I have always loved is “A Blessing,” by James Wright. I’ve enclosed a copy here in case you’re not familiar with it. In the poem, a man walks into a field to look at two ponies grazing there at twilight. I can’t be sure if this is my favorite poem, but I do know that it is one that I return to year after year and say to myself with undiminished awe.
James Wright is an American poet from Ohio who lived until 1980. I knew him when we were students at Kenyon College — he was writing poems even then, as a young man.
My best wishes to you, Lily, and to your classmates. All together you are doing a wonderful thing with your project.
A BLESSING
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.
–James Wright
