Horse poetry

Written by Nadeen Davis, the clever thing!

Never have I seen such beauty
Such elegance and grace
Nothing short of magnificent
With nobility on his face.

Black coat ripples with luxury
Mane and tail grand
Feathers adorn his fetlocks
Imposing he does stand.

There is kindness in his eye
He has gentlemanly ways
A softness that is real
And with him all his days.

Floating action when he trots
Muscle's clad with strength
Effortless are his paces
No energy has been spent

Honoured we are to know him
A rare beauty of course
Never will we tire of looking
At the Friesian Horse.

The following poems are taken from The Poetry of Horses, a collection by Olwen Way. Many are extracts. ISBN 0 85131 611 5

The Horse Breeder’s Prayer
Anonymous

St George
Thou saintly chevalier
With all my heart I implore thee
To mares and stallions thou art dear
Secure one favour for me!

See here!
My blood congeals with fright;
The pegdigree grand mare is foaling.
Give her the best of foals tonight
And send my cares a-rolling!


From The Old Mare’s Foal
Will H Ogilvie

She was the best that I ever had,
She needed no whip nor spur,
Game as a pebble, and this game lad
Is the living image of her
Same old courage and jaunty tread,
Just like the good old soul!
I could pick him out of a hundred head,
In the dark, as the old mare’s foal.


From The Time Piece
Frank Kendon

With lifted heads, with level backs, tails flying
Three foals in paddock show their grace and breeding,
Their young hooves doggedly thudding the closecropt turf
Hither come thundering, stepping forth from delight,
Over the pond-side knoll, far off, where the fence begins.
There, to a sudden standstill fetch’d, they front the wind,
Wild as the wind and proud in poise by nature,
And whinny above brisk wilderness of reeds
To the distant hissing hushing and narrow sea.

And the patient mares stand dreaming by the water.
Till one, the dark one loosening her strong neck,
Drops her skull, lips the faultless mirror,
And draws a steady, cool, sustaining drench;
Thence raising lazily that dripping muzzle again,
Workless and wise, the noble careworn head
Rejoins a doze she scarcely interrupted.

And ringlets on the glassy water widen away from her
Flagging softly among the weeds and diamond dragonflies.


The White Horse
D H Lawrence

The youth walks up to the white horse, to put its halter on
And the horse looks at him in silence.
They are so silent, they are in another world.


From The Koran

When God had created the horse,
He spoke to the magnificent creature:
‘I have made thee unlike any other.
All the treasures of this earth lie between thine eyes.
Thou shall cast mine enemies beneath thine hooves,
But thou shall carry my friends on thy back.
This shall be the seat
From whence praises rise unto Me.
Thou shall find happiness all over the earth,
And thou shall be favoured above all other creatures,
For to thee shall accrue the love of the master of the earth.
Thou shall fly without wings
And conquer without sword.’



By Robin Ivy

Horses under
An oak
Exchange secrets.



After the X-Ray
by Alison Brackenbury

If he had stayed
In the four white walls
Or alone in his patch, the untidy hedge
Strewing its roses through empty hours
He would never have met the dark mare
Whose neck he licked by the elderflower
Whose kick snapped his straight cannonbone.

For sixteen weeks he must stand in the straw
Watching the light wash and ebb
All warmth will have flowed past when he stumbles out
November’s wind raw on his leg
Was it worth it? He shuffles, he cranes to the lane,
Calls her, and calls her again.


From The blood horse
By Bryan Waller Procter

Gamarra is a noble steed;
Strong, black and of the desert breed;
Full of fire, and full of bone,
All of his line of fathers known;
Fine his nose, his nostrils thin,
But blown abroad by the pride within!
His mane, a stormy river flowing;
And his eyes, like embers glowing
In the darkness of the night;
And his pace as swift as light

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