Gillian Stone
The Mares of Lisbon
‘It is well known that in Lusitania, in the vicinity of the town of Olisopo and the River Tagus, the mares, by turning their faces towards the west wind as it blows, become impregnated by its breezes, and that foals which are conceived in this way are remarkable for their fleetness but never live beyond three years.’
Pliny
Mares turn their noses to the wind
beside the river where white water
wounds their feet.
Wind takes their nostrils
flared towards this grace.
Danger glides over, slipping
as torn tissue slid
when they jumped skilfully through circus panes.
Wind waves their manes,
flicks up the glistening tailstrands,
flows away into absence
followed
breath upon breath
by the continuing sigh.
Drops.
Wholly now the last of the day is
swollen with heat.
Mares bow their noses to the ground
and eat.
The fruits of these conjunctions
with the wind
leap lightly,
frolic more like some brittle gossamer
than flesh,
their legs spindles of thin glass
clicking on grass
whose fronds grow crisper
for the contact.
Fleet they are, foals of the air;
woe to mare mothers
helpless in the river meadows watching
how yarely go the young
wind-driven in the poplar leaves
and gone,
how briefly spark and perish
one by one.
Page(s) 137
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