from The Unassailable

IV

Space is full of mental rooms where we can go
Like a hunter unleashing his dogs, I freed my spirit into them
High blaze of hieratic grasses
Simple or resounding victory
Although it wasn’t an especially simple day
All day long the sun suffused some leaves
Nearby harvesters bent in the vineyards
Mindful of patient provisions in the grapes’ blood
To each one his wine-press and his wine
As for me, I unleashed my dogs
First of all death deciphered itself in the gold
Its obols waited at the foot of every tree
Weightless coins of the glad munificence
Which replaces summer
Glory piercing loss through to its afterlife
To each his crystal and to each his blood
To each his drunkenness
And his journey just a bit beyond himself
I too was heavy
I too, clumsy in the evening’s affluence
My wealth was too great for me
A beautiful sunset thickening my lips
Like a hunter heading home
I whistled for my spirit

- Gabrielle Althen, translated by Marilyn Hacker