“The Donkey” by Gavia Boyden

Gavia Boyden (age 9)

THE DONKEY

Did you see it, trudging, all day,
along the asphalt road? And in the evening,
opening up its graceful stride—an armful of rime-gray stone,
a stillness even as it cantered into the sureness of its feet,
a snowdrift, a feather of a scrub jay,
pulling its shrill bray into the crackling winter air? Did you hear it,
braying and mourning? A harmony like the ocean
waves lapping at a lion’s husky growl?
And did you see it, finally, just under the winter
sun—a gray shadow disappearing along with the sun,
its hooves like stones dropping,
its fur the glistening of a dove’s call?
And did you feel it,
in your heart, how to open your hands to them?
And have you revised your heart?

from 2014 Rattle Young Poets Anthology

__________

Why do you like to write poetry?

Gavia Boyden: “I like writing poetry because in it I can express my emotions freely, emotions which I would have trouble saying aloud. I also write poems because I like the feeling of writing.”

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