That Moment of Stillness

Poetry

That Moment of Stillness

It would happen every time.

We all experience it

no matter what saddle we stride.

I am high on the Cotswolds.

If I look to my left

Just over my shoulder

The clouds sit lightly upon

the Malverns.

We have cantered,

Worked the Serpentine,

Then as we come out

of that final gentle turn

My heel touches featherlike,

Her head throws back in expectation,

That snort of approval!

We leave the Serpentine.

No more Eights today, Beauty

We’ve done well!

You’ve taught me how better

to move with you.

To sit tall.

To allow my frame to merge with your frame

The two become one…


Well, you’re a slow learner!

Yep, I know!!

Okay. Shall we?

The long grass looks dangerous

But from where we are,

Our footing is sure,

Our stride deliberate.

Now we rest.

The one rein trails.

We are perfectly still.

Her sureness of breathing

gives not the vaguest hint

at the speed and distance

We have both just covered.

Now we rest still.

We each listen to the Wind.

Our return will have the wind behind us,

It’s strong today

which means mane in my face

tail around my thigh.

The Kite circles high,

Two in fact.

A Hare watches close by.

Amused or bemused,

sniffing my beauty on the air,

then that shrill…

Gone! Like a ghost

through a wall.

The Kite tails off

then soars in thermalistic fashion.

The two rejoin.

They circle

and move further across.

I think a man and his friend

upset their hunting routine!

How wonderful

to watch Nature in action.

To see them coral another

part of this vast Ride.

Their absence

returns the beautiful song,

The Lark high above me

Serenading.

If ever a sound makes

me quiver with childish delight

it is the Lark.

A snort.

What? Impatient to return are we?

Oh well, come on Beauty.

The stillness takes one step,

then two,

then four.

Another gentle snort of anticipation.

Come on Girl!

Let’s race the wind again!

30 May 2024
All Rights Reserved


LIVERPOOL


© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb

Digital Artwork by KTW

First Written 28 September 2023

Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.

He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.

Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.

In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.