HORSE JOY (II) Poem by Peter van Lier

Lying,

back to back, in clusters,

‘something a horse rarely indulges in!',

is seen by farmers as a high point of agrarian existence,
even to such an extent
that -

in many a country marriage
the decision's
taken that ‘the small hoofs (‘gee-up')
must kick the air just one more time',

especially after that long period of darkness: full of deep silence and

labour of sweating horses.