Saddle Symphony

When dust filters slow and golden through evening light

And my horse’s hooves pad hollow Earth 

like a pensive drummer

My mind goes quiet as I listen from above

The reins swing under his bobbing neck—

A rawhide pendulum

Astride and atempo with my heartbeat,

I sway easily

Fluid as a cellist’s elbow

My thoughts are his compass

His body, straight and true, is without destination-—

Yet full of purpose

The song continues

Ages old but forever Now

Now

Always Now is where he keeps me

Metal on metal

Leather on leather

Jingle and creak and flutter of breath

The stirrups conduct

My spurs keep time

Horseshoe the metronome

Rowel the chime

His teeth bump together, joyous and low—

Like fat bass players grooving with closed eyes

What strings there are I have tuned to my touch

What harmonies move through us like water

Upwards, beyond wood and wind

Then a grand crescendo, power and thrust

Above whispering leaves

Below the solemn lament of the night birds

Staccato castanets on cascading shale

His tongue under the cricket rolls a clattering copper solo

And then

Still

The last notes whistle ever slower until

Imperceptible as the first star’s glittering applause….