JOHN KINSELLA

Variation On Rilke’s Sonnet to Orpheus 2, 4

                                                Oh this is the beast that had no existence.

Unseen, it became the more sublime for this, its

neck arched, wandering about, then poised

to take all in with a stilled glance.

It was not. Yet because it was loved, it was made

all that is animal. There was room for love.

And in the space, clear and left aside,

it made its presence known, but scarce

needed to. They fed it without grain,

but fed it with the possibility of existence.

And this gave the animal such strength

that a horn grew from its forehead. A horn.

Whitely it approached a virgin –

was inside the silver mirror and inside her.