Lines for a Lockdown: 'When I was still a horse in a meadow'

Self-portrait as a horse

When I was still a horse in a meadow

I must have lived in his body
have seen in his eyes what he saw

that life would never begin nor
would ever end, nor be repeated

I must have left his body and my memories
must have remained behind in him

you are standing by the fence round a meadow
on the other side a horse is standing

look it in the eyes – it will look in yours

by Rutger Kopland

translated by James Brockway

from: Memories of the Unknown, Rutger Kopland, translated by James Brockway, foreword by J.M. Coetzee. The Harvill Press, London, 2001.