A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! ~Shakespeare’s Richard III

“From the desert I come to thee, On a stallion shod with fire;
And the winds are left behind In the speed of my desire.” ~Bayard Taylor

If man’s gift is forging arts from function—
song and lit—and poetry in motion,
the divine equine, creator’s notion,
then the rider’s genius in conjunction;
and their stillness statuesque dysfunction,
and the Piaffe* proof of their promotion,
and the pair, marvel of locomotion,
Centaur sense, communication’s junction.
Equus robustus of cave painting fame,
paved all our way to the motorcade age,
(marvel of conformation, stand alone),
carried the field in our fun-and-war game,
while cavalry, carriage, was all the rage—
while I’d ‘kill’ to keep you, horse of my own!

© Helga Ross 2007


Piaffe* a cadenced trot executed by the horse in one spot