Less Grazing Land Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Less Grazing land

The mere on the knoll looked down at the grassland
a prairie of succulence where she and her ancestors
had lived and died for since time long forgotten.
Behind her, her foal only a few months old, larking
about as foals do. At the distance she saw human
Habitat growing closer, the land was perfect for building
creating suburbia, road and gardens where no horse
was allowed to graze and be free to gallop without
hindrance of fences and cars.
She could smell the city, it was foul in her nose, she nudged
her foal to go uphill to the hinterland that had less
grass but for now was free of humanity.
She would do whatever she could to stop her foal
becoming a tame horse, ridden by would be cowboys
and groomed by girls of unsure sexuality