Statues - Lisel Mueller

[Larry Robinson]

Statues
           1989
 
In Prague, or perhaps Budapest,
the heroes have fallen off their horses.
Here lies a general's profile
and here a helmet, there
a ferrous glove still holding the reins.
The horses, so long inert
under the heavy bodies,
are not used to wind and sun,
nor to the tenderness of their flanks
now that the boots are gone,
and their eyes, so long overcast
by bronze or stone, are slow
to take in the gray city,
the heavyset houses.  Gradually
they start to move, surprised
by their new lightness.  There's a scent
of rain in the air, and something clicks
inside their heads; it has to do
with green, with pasture.  They step down
from their pedestals, unsteady as foals
beginning to walk.  No one pays attention
to riderless horses walking
through city streets; these are
supernatural times.  Near the edge of town,
where the sky expands, they trust themselves
to break into a run
and then drop out of sight
behind a bank of willows
whose streamers promise water
 
	- Lisel Mueller




"Be joyful though you have considered all the facts."
    - Wendell Berry