Horse and Rider

Horse and Rider
Melissa Range

Sing unto（到，直到） the Lord a drift of a song,
a song that goes before the Law:

make of your voice a shaft of flame
shifting into cloud and back again,

a rift in a wave, a crack（裂缝） in a wheel,
a road in the midst of the sea;

make of your voice a staff turned snake
turned brass（黄铜） turned tambourine（小手鼓） .

Sing of swift colts bolting
from their mares onto the plains of tender sand,

bolts of dyed（被染色的） silk rippling as they unfurl—
cedar（雪松） , sable（黑貂） , silver, sunset, snow.

Sing of the vacant（空虚的，空缺的） stables, the casks（木桶） of grain;
of the rakes（耙子） and forks that lean against the stalls;

of the stable-boys—all younger sons—
whose charges charge away.

Sing of helmets（头盔） hailed upon the fields,
gold flax and barley rotting in the bud;

of the bare-headed boys who urge their chariots（战车） on
with surging throats: O sing of their black hair.

Sing of the groomed hooves（蹄） and flanks（两翼）
and haunches（腰部，臀部） brushed blinding in the glare,

jolting the riders they bear—all younger sons—
until the sand tenders itself unto the sea.

Sing this day of the gift of the Lord: the genesis（发生，起源）
of a song so old it has no attribution;

of a tongue's first poetry—the gleaming shard
which broke from prose（散文） , from simple speech,

the jagged line which founded epic, identity, belief.
Sing of defeat, for without defeat, how could we sing?

Sing of swords, shields, chariots, sifting
down beneath the tangling（纠纷，混乱状态） reeds.

Sing of the clear dry heavens, the mottled sea—
cedar, sable, silver, sunset, snow.

Sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously;
He has slaughtered whom He has slaughtered;

He has shown Himself worthy of all our noise:
He has rid the earth of a few more horses, a few more boys.