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!
28 September 2023
All Rights Reserved
LIVERPOOL
© 2023 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Digital Artwork by KTW
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.
