<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">A Blessing </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 23px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And the eyes of those two Indian ponies</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Darken with kindness.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They have come gladly out of the willows</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">To welcome my friend and me.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We step over the barbed wire into the pasture</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Where they have been grazing all day, alone.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">happiness</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">That we have come.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">There is no loneliness like theirs.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">At home once more,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">For she has walked over to me</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And nuzzled my left hand.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">She is black and white,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Her mane falls wild on her forehead,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Suddenly I realize</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">That if I stepped out of my body I would break</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Into blossom.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 23px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- James Wright</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Times; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>