A Little Something For The Road Poem by Elizabeth Liechti

Last night
As I sat hunched before the window I saw a unicorn
Making its trumpet fanfare dancing maiden way
Along the alley's dirty ice. I went out to her
A carrot in one hand as for any other equine
Which she accepted.
I warmed chilled hands beneath her mane
And asked her what a unicorn was doing here
And she said: There was no other place to go that she knew of.
But perhaps, she asked, just perhaps
I knew Of a place with emerald grass and crystaline streams
And air like antique wine it was so clean?
Her velvet gaze wove a silence I wished to live inside forever.
But I knew of no such place.
That's a pity, said the unicorn
That hurry and rush leave no room for improbabilities
Like myself. May I visit you again?
Of course, I said, it does my heart a world of good
To speak with my imagination now and then.
The unicorn laughed
And left me standing in an echo of ringing hoofbeats.
It was a small forever before I remembered
To go home.