A Few Strands of Barbed-Wire Fence
Strands of Barbed-Wire Fence …

Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Creative Commons
Macro of rusty barb wire fence; By Horia Varlan
Like most working people…bills and responsibilities…fence me in… fence us all in! The “practical” gives way to what is “out-there” that we would like to take off and go see…to truly be “free”.
Today…while driving into work…I witnessed a couple of Horses…trotting to the other side of a pasture. It was a big pasture…so if you’re a horse and you want to get somewhere quickly…you start off at a trot…why take your time? Out of nowhere…a little foal took-off at “break-neck” speed from some wooded brush in the corner of the pasture. It was headed to catch up with the older Horses…and obviously…its Mother.
From way behind the little one caught up to them…and then kept going right on by! The only thing that held him back…from going any further…was a few strands of barbed-wire fence…
So… here’s the Poem:
“A Few Strands of Barbed-Wire Fence”
When we were young…we often took off with a bound…
Oddly…later on in life…there is much to slow us down.
I want to “take-off” with both my feet…going 90 miles an hour…
I want to jump past that few strands of barbed-wire fence…if I only had the power !

Running foals; Creative Commons; Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
TQ4780 : Running foals; Copyright: Stephen Craven
I have run the race before me…and not gotten anywhere…all that fast…
I’m not talking about “days-gone-by”…I want to leave that dust settled…in the past.
I’m talking about that quiet thing…we never want to admit…or bring to anyone’s attention…
I’m talking about that small voice from our heart that wants to be free…Let me be the first to mention.
You know…you have heard it with-in…even though it may have been very slight…
You know…it came up from time to time…in dreams where your imagination took flight.
I’m not advocating that we should all just “take-off”…and run very…far away…
But…I know in my heart…I would not mind to run and be free…on this particular day !
When we were young…there was no limit to…what we believed we would get done…
Days of working and years go by…and the barbed-wire fence keeps us from “taking-off” in a run.
Yet…if we could change our thinking…We know that an adult horse can jump that fence…if he puts his mind to it…
The way we’re trained on the way-up teaches us that we are too small to jump that fence …We learn we can’t do it.

Granite Falls Thoroughbreds:Storm Leaper’s first foal by Sam’s Ace: Connie Hoge-photographer
The young one knows by that…which it has been taught…
Sometimes it challenged that way of thinking…Sometimes it did not.
But…inside that young one’s heart…It always imagined it would run free…
Sometimes we find ourselves fenced in by a few strands of barbed-wire…
Where we never thought…We’d be !
From Previous: © 2012 ManlyPoetryMan-UPDATED ON: (SEPT. 17, 2021)
THANKS FOR READING THIS ONE!
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For more great works like this one…keep an eye on Steve Walters’ author page to see what’s next for The Creative Exiles:
https://www.creativeexiles.com/author/stevew/
You can also find works by Steve Walters who uses the pen name of ManlyPoetryMan on HubPages.
https://hubpages.com/@manlypoetryman
https://hubpages.com/@me-steve-walters
Or at Home | Manly Poetry Man
HERE’S A FEW SAMPLES OF WHAT’S “OUT THERE” BY MANLYPOETRYMAN:
Right When My Heart Shattered
To Make It up a Hill (a Poem)
We’re All Headed for a Headstone…One Day (With a “Dash”)
B-24A Liberator: “Diamond Lil”…Lives on in Flight Still!
- Alumni of the Planet Earth - April 26, 2024
- Don’t Eclipse My World - April 3, 2024
- “Sendero”-footpath - March 12, 2024







I loved the Horses pictured in your post. Beautiful. The image of barbed wire is a strong image to me growing up in a small agricultural town but what I want to thank you most for is the reminder that sometimes it is best to jump over the barbed wire and take off running into open land. Jamie
Glad you enjoyed the pictures of the horses and the image of a barbed wire fence… just sitting there all by its lonesome dividing up the fields and keeping you in or out depending on your own personal perspective! Sometimes we find ourselves fenced in by a few strands of barbed-wire…where we never thought we’d be. Sometimes we just need to see what it is that’s actually holding us in! Which is something I personally need a reminder for from time to time. Thanks for reading, and for commenting on this one, Jayme.