A Moment in the Field


Since I first saw him knighted in the court,
in the day and in the night,
in my mind and in my body
I have summoned him. Now
I look at an iron stake and the fire,
waiting for the sun to climb
under the pale blue sky that binds us.
Now, for a moment, I have given up.
The noise of the crowd is a new silence,
the sun on my shoulders, freedom—
a freedom I felt only before
when I was the daughter of a king,
walking in another field
in the first warmth of May.
What can my eyes follow
but a pale yellow butterfly moving
away from me, leaf after leaf?
Not that I am not afraid of burning,
but for a moment,
I tell you, I feel free. Almost
not wanting him to come out of the forest,
throwing a gown over my chemise,
pulling my body up on the back of his horse,
binding me, binding me to him once again.