Ode to a Black Beauty

I saw you working on the farm
you hungry, massive, powerful
black buck, with grand appendages
quite skilled, quiet, masterful.

Ebon torso gleamed as sweat
made mirror of your arching frame –
beneath curved lashes your dark eyes
lie – such beauty justifies the name.

I followed oft your treks to town;
as driver, worker meager tasks,
leading middle class around
your face contrasted to their masks.

None knew your royal Duchess birth
nor cared – a cabbie driven prince?
Alas! A Dick himself your friend –
some more in time evince.

You kept demeanor even, calm
despite the witnessed deaths, a boy –
the horse leg broken as he lay –
the end too near for poor Rob Roy.

You kept your strength, your massive build
with James, your friend, and Ginger, bred
with care withstanding hazards, harm
and my intent to follow where you led.

You fought your demons, battled fire's flames,
survived abusive bosses beatings, blood –
through harsh disease, an odyssey untold –
and lived to tell this tale of equine neighborhood.

Retired in seclusion, unfaded black remains
your raiment still resplendent, from shoe to shining star,
while all the world remembers, the fame that marches on,
you stand alone in history, Black Beauty that you are.




Poetry by NotaDeadPoet
Read 512 times
Written on 2007-02-01 at 17:21

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