Pony Ponderings Poem by Max McGovern

I too once was a wild stallion.
Wind at my back,
Sun fresh and always
upon my face.

The dark skinned man,
He came to me in kindness.
And I grew tame for him
Out of our likenesses.

The grass was still sweeter then.
My friend the buffalo
Told me he thought a drought
May be looming soon.

I wish I could have told him,
What I’d seen
At the fire ceremony
One purple black night in June.

The flames and men
Wild and wound up together.
The voices seemed to be
Imbued with all the light and white hot heat.

Then they passed the pipe.
The lightning began to strike.
And in the fire I saw
Ten thousand friends fall at once.

I too once was a wild stallion.
But all that is changed now,
Like my turf.
My pretty open earth.