Ronny Somek

HOW TO KNOW THE AGE OF A HORSE. A LOVE POEM

The usual way to know the age of a horse is to look at its teeth.

At six months it has four molars.

At the age of two it has six, and these continue to grow until

the milk teeth are replaced by permanent ones.

At ten a crack appears in the back molars and it grows

to half the length of the tooth when the horse is fifteen.

Starting at twenty-five the crack slowly begins to disappear.

The usual way to know the age of love is to look at its milk teeth.

A small scar will mark what was extracted or left.

TR: KAREN ALKALAY GUT