Alison Brackenbury
Put down
We do not plan when people are to die
Habitually. With horses, it must be
Considered. The old horse’s streaming eye
Betrays a tumour. Though he calls for mints,
Bangs a broad hoof for dinner on the door,
Swerves headlong through wet grass, one day the lid
Will dose upon an eye lit blue as rain,
The past. The future, says the vet, is pain.
He must not go by box. He hates to ride,
So Bristol is too far. It must be home.
He will step out, black-stockinged, the three strides
Outside his door, stand calmly to be shot.
I will not give him to the hated Hunt.
But he will be a carcase. It does not
Matter if the petman comes, for that
(Not duck or calf) will feed a glossy cat.
For I am not my body, but the breath
The Greeks called soul, which blows away from lips,
Leaves us a gram’s shake lighter after death.
I will not spoil six paces of good earth
Unless I feed a tree. Rough ashes may
Blow anywhere, wear down to useful dirt.
But I will not be there, by plan or luck,
When warm bay flanks swing hoisted on their truck.
Page(s) 17
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