Question by May Swenson
Question
May SwensonBody my house
my horse my hound
what will I do
when you are fallenWhere will I sleep
How will I ride
What will I huntWhere can I go
without my mount
all eager and quick
How will I know
in thicket ahead
is danger or treasure
when Body my good
bright dog is deadHow will it be
to lie in the sky
without roof or door
and wind for an eyeWith cloud for shift
how will I hide?
MARGINALIA
1.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my body lately. How it carries me. How I fail it. How I forget it’s not a guarantee. What happens when the body is no longer mine to return to?
2.
Have I already begun to outlive this old sack of bones. My knees groan before I do. My breath shortens. I wake up sore from sleep. Can I pretend I am endless. Can I walk like I’ll never be stopped.
3.
For the longest time I thought of the body as a container. These days though—perhaps a companion. Loyal some days, unwilling on others. Not a vessel, but a voice. Not something I have—but someone I am.
4.
What will I do, asks this cup that holds all of me. And the truth is: I don’t know. I’ve barely learned how to stay. I’ve barely learned how to live with it, let alone let it go.
5.
Will I ever find myself laid bare across the sky, roofless, doorless, eye to eye with the wind—no hiding place, no skin?
6.
I want to believe the body forgives us. What would I give to go softly into the next world, not carrying my shame but only our small, shared joys.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Nature: Poems Old and New by May Swenson, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“A posthumous collection of 182 nature poems by one of the century’s most respected poets includes many never-before-published works.” (Source)
ABOUT MAY SWENSON
May Swenson was born Anna Thilda May Swenson on May 28, 1913, in Logan, Utah. Her parents were Swedish immigrants, and her father was a professor of mechanical engineering at Utah State University. English was her second language, her family having spoken mostly Swedish in their home. Influenced early on by Edgar Allan Poe, she kept journals as a young girl, in which she wrote in multiple genres. Swenson attended Utah State University and received a bachelor’s degree in 1934.
Since her… (more)
Read more poems by May Swenson • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: awe • becoming • aging • Or browse the index
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ON THIS DAY
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A Woman Runs on the First Day of Spring by Erika L. SánchezYou might also like these:
Love Poem Beginning with a Yellow Cab by José Olivarez
I Wonder If I Need the Rapture or If I Could Just Swallow A Catastrophe and Call It Good by Kelli Russell Agodon
Starlings in Winter by Mary Oliver
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A Woman Runs on the First Day of Spring by Erika L. Sánchez
Mattie Decker
Thank you, May. Thank you Read a Little Poetry I only found today by ‘accident’ searching for a line and ‘up you popped’ just like a fairy in my garden or a flower I’ve never seen before. Wild and wonderful. Right. Here.
Emma
The author’s comments are as beautiful as the poems and something I needed to read.