dversepoets.com
It's winter break and the grandkids are out of school. I'm looking forward to reading and commenting over the weekend. We are challenged this week by Gay Cannon to write a poem in the iconic form used by Robert Frost in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. I chose to paraphrase another writer's story in the form and this is the result:
From John Muir's Story from his Boyhood and Youth
Nob was a great horse, writes John Muir,
She knew when we talked about her
She understood everything;
we played in our barn and pasture
He wrote of Nob, remembering
one hot, sultry summer evening -
in town, twenty four miles away
there was a revival meeting
Father rode her hard that long day
she breathed heavily all the way
So tired and wilted from the heat
she drooped when I unhitched her rein
The next day the doc came to treat
her lungs were inflamed, she was beat,
Same pneumonia symptoms as me -
I bathed her head; she would not eat
The next day we let her go free
with playmates she wanted to be
Her trembling and beseeching eyes
were heartbreaking for us to see
A most faithful horse, true and wise
I pet her head to soothe her cries
As the family gathered 'round
She lay down bleeding - then she died
In farm life real knowledge is found
Kids grow and thrive outside school bounds
Respect for mortal souls gains ground
learned godlike sympathies abound
