Rider And Horse: A Poem Inspired By A Small Girl Poem by Patrick VincentBrown

I sat with a small child on my knee who
Rode my knee like a rider who knew not
Yet the importance of how she must trust
The horse.

Yet she did and did not know it. I sat with this
Small child who taught me more about me even
Than she presently knew. That is what she presently
Knew of me

As well as the teaching of it (This, I
Laugh, would make a Zen master blush) . And how
Is this to be? The paradox may fall
Like a riddled

Rain bathing both. She trusts the horse without
The knowledge of the expression of trust
Yet the expression is felt while the definition
Is not. And must the

Definition ever be? If no, that is
Alright with me. For the expression,
Like the rainless blue inside her eyes,
Clears the contradictions

And suns me in a riddle of infinity.
She has wrapped me in an immeasurable
Aspect in unbounded ways and I trust her
Because, ironically, she will not let me

Fall despite the infinite chances in
This infinite moment.
We two are only brought to a halt
With a wrap on the door. Neither has
Fallen.

I catch myself inside her eyes. My nose
Is larger than I thought. I check my hair, the
Part is fine. We each grasp a rein
And start the infinity all over again.

Little girl, there is boundless time in front
Of us and illimitable time behind. But in the
Space of a moment can we ride towards
The very notion of what we want to call
Eternity.