:23:17
Afterwards, he says, they a/ways embrace.
:23:22
He showed me how he stands in the night...
:23:25
/ike a frozen tango dancer...
:23:29
inha/ing the co/d, sweet breath.
:23:35
Have you noticed it about horses,
the way they'// stand...
:23:37
one hoof on its end,
/ike those gir/s in the ba//et?
:23:45
Now...
:23:48
he's gone off to rest...
:23:50
leaving me alone...
:23:52
with Equus.
:23:55
l can hear the creature's voice.
:23:57
He's calling me out of the black cave
of the psyche.
:24:01
l shove in my dim little torch,
and there he stands...
:24:06
waiting for me.
:24:10
He raises his matted head.
:24:12
He opens his great square teeth,
and he says:
:24:15
''Why? Why me? Why, ultimately, me?
:24:19
''Do you imagine you can account for me...
:24:22
''totally, infallibly,
inevitably account for me?
:24:24
''Poor Dr. Dysart.''
:24:30
Of course,
l've stared at such images before...
:24:33
or been stared at by them,
whichever way you look at it.
:24:36
Weirdly, often now with me,
the feeling is that...
:24:39
they are staring at us.
:24:42
And in some quite palpable way...
:24:45
they precede us.
:24:47
Meaningless, but unsettling.
:24:52
ln either case, this particular one...
:24:54
this huge, implacable head
is the most alarming yet.
:24:59
lt asks questions l've avoided
all my professional life.