We picked our waydown to the beach,watching the wavesdragging out of our reach:tangling tails, like a sodden sheet;dangling entrailsfrom the gut of the sea.
Hoarding our meals (alfalfa and rolls);trying not to catchthe cold eyes of the gulls--
I hope Mother 
Nature has notoverheard!(Though, she doles out hurtlike a puking bird.)
We stayed for the winter.
No-one told usabout the laws of the land.
I hold my own.
But you, with your hunger--you, on the other hand--make yourself known.
And when we were found,
I know we both grieved.
My heart made the sound ofsnow falling from eaves.
You and me, 
Bess,we were as thick as thieves.
So I swore, nonetheless, up and down,it was only me.
They took me away,and, after some timestudying my case,must have made up their minds.
By the time you realized 
I was dying,it must have been too late.
I believe you were not lying.
It is the day.
I wake,with my ears cocked up like a gun(like every day, of course),yanked by my wriststo the sugar-front courtyard--now tell me, what have 
I done?It seems 
I have stolen a horse.
I step to the gallows.
Who do you think you are--arching your hooves like a crane,in the shallow gutterthat lines the boulevards,crowded with folkswho just stare as 
I hang?It's all the same.
Kindness comes over me;what was your name?
It makes no difference.
I'm glad that you came.
Forever, I'll listen to your glad neighing.