The Horses Poem by Frank Bana

The horses on a hillside
Grazing in the sun
Creatures never ridden
No pulley for a cart
Dark and sleek and careless
Heavy in their English field
Muscled in the heart
Descendants of the Pegasus
Strong and stubborn born
To carry an unbroken line
Out running our human time

Run for water, run from fear
For food, run from a man
For a filly, to a child
Eating from an infant hand
A stallion running over here
Approaching my despair
Bearing me no harm, I see
Sunlit creature from a field
Caught in the need for nurture
And the longing to be wild

Teach me to be careless too
Show me how to follow
Tracks cut through the meadows deep
In the land of Blake and Keats
Cutting through their tragedies
Into the dens of night
Tracks to guide the horses home
Trails to bring them safely in
Where they spread their ancient wings
And escape in flight.