Cavallina Storna Poem by Matthew Christopher

The grey horse follows its familiar road home,
it pulls a wagon with a man at the reigns.

Its hooves kick up dust. This is Sicily.
It's Summer and it hasn't rained in months.

The man at the reigns is dead.

The horse waits patiently for her master's whip.
She won't speed up without it.

At the barbershop in town
hair floated cutting through beams of light
and irritating his breath.
He thought he was to die right there,
but they waited till he was on the road.

The horse's eyes are covered to keep her calm.
She can only see ahead where she can make out
the house, and the children waiving
from the branches of the orange tree.