Written by R. Jay Hoffman
The white wooden fence along the driveway
Once led to the barn at the top of the hill
Angling on an incline across the field
penning in ponies with dancing tails,
and manes that slapped the wind
Back then, the owner’s hay was cheaper
than anyplace else
He mowed it himself; his people did anyway.
For he was a leader, a keeper of men
Obviously, a favorite if there ever was one
Thirty years have passed, and the wooden fence is
No longer white, no longer the back of the dragon
spreading, but a beacon of blight, crumbling
Unsteady like an old man groping for his crutches
The lean-tos that protected the ponies from snow,
rain, and the bitter wind
lie forgotten in the bushes
like the tall men the owner once called friends
After the old man began to shake,
began to show the signs, one by one
Those who once came to meet him
didn’t have the time
The owner’s wife had died of cancer at 38,
and in her wake, horses had become the answer
along with his ranch and his faith.
Once, a storm came
and blew the horse’s shelter down
And when he hurried to fix it,
He drove his tractor into the pond
And drowned
Text © R. Jay Hoffman
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