Alone in equine darkness

The dew of hours after the dusk  cools  at my boots as I walk slowly out of the  pen to the  lower pasture  searching
and when I find her we will ride
out into the darkness of the night once more

I whistle softly an old western tune no
one  now remembers
A tune  called” Little Joe the wrangler ” about a fourteen  year old
cow hand  losing his life on the cattle  drive

I hear her nicker once along  the whispering stream
where the fresh timothy grass always
draws her  to graze  about when the heat of the day
dissipates   and  sparrows  go down to rest

She turns her head into the full moon’s glow and
I see my reflection in her big brown eyes
Or is it the moon begging to go along ?
She turns and brushes against me
as if to say  ”  Tonight and you the moon and I ”

I know that as we walk to the barn she will lower her
head fully over my shoulder seeking my shirt pocket
for what treats there  may be
We tease each other that way as if  lovers
in forgotten  youth

Later in the high meadows  I lower the reigns to  let her find her own footing  and she knows best where lay the trail
her  vision is so much better than mine
She slows her step but once as I adjust my saddle
does she fear that I may fall ?

In the early hour of false dawn we turn to the last leg of
a trail as old as the mountains
yet she has known all along  that we would
move this way

And  in equine darkness  she stops short
and I know exactly  what she’s thinking
Do we have to return now to  pasture ?
Why is it always this way ?
And in one fleeting moment of horse and rider
we become one

And I tell her out loud in the first words of the night
One day we will go on  and on and never
face the  dawn again
For  a  man and his  horse  should become one
and never part again

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EdF

Sometime in my life, I started to write about my life journey, in poetry, in story perhaps to sort them out and enter them into a place of safekeeping. The soul of the writer is perhaps best described in their words, emotions and thoughts. If these poems or stories touch something inside you then maybe I have succeeded in sharing. I will not write about my self in profile, because self isn't so important in writing. Only the journey in words and the sharing are important. Why would we say "Now about me!"... I'd rather write about life, nature, serenity ...

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