POEMS/ The Tears of Horses

The Tears of Horses

When Achilles’s horses wept
to mourn his comrade’s death,
the churning world grew quiet --

you could hear the sound of
teardrops raining slowing down
across the war-worn globe

could feel the pain of soldiers
wounded in the field, could touch
the hopes of fathers and of wives

in waiting for the footsteps
that would never sound again,
could taste the sweetness drying

on children’s hopeful lips,
could see the breath
of mothers making evening meals

their sons would never eat,
could gather up in weeping horses’ tears
whole oceans full of misery and loss.

From All Roads Go Where They Will (Antrim House, 2010)

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