Last night, we went to the rodeo.
This is Texas, after all.
We rode the ferris wheel, ate cotton candy, and watched cowboys try to best the 8-second buzzer by holdin’ on & hopin’.
It’s a funny thing, the rodeo.
All belt buckles and bluster.
I’m not so sure I love every little bit of it,
but that’s not really what we’re promised when we step into something new and different, is it?
Plus, in the end, the rodeo’s as much about a love of horses as anything.
And having been one of those girls (the pretending, the posters, the finally — really, finally — a horse of my own!) — I can wrap my mind around that.
So here, in a different setting than the ones we watched last night, are James Wright’s horses:
A Blessing
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
(Read the rest here…)
Love that poem. Must be at least the 10th time I’ve read it, but I do love that poem for its swan-like horses and those startling three closing lines.
Whew, those closing lines slay me. So beautiful. Thank you.
I feel about horses like I do about dogs — that they have an understanding about this world that is beyond us.
(I tuned into Leno last night to see Obama, and one of his opening, Rodney-Dangerfield-esque jokes was that the economy is so bad that Rodeo Drive is now being pronounced ROdeo, as in what you saw last night. Pretty clever.)
I’m still reeling from your PF entry from last week, which I was late in getting to. I’d like to link to it this Sunday, if you don’t care, as it was a big kick for me to read. I emailed it to my mama-friends, too.
Jules
7-Imp
O mercy, Jules. Of COURSE … and I’m touched.
Those words so sweetly capture the love many little girls have for horses and ponies, gorgeous last line.
Also enjoyed the truth in your lines…
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Wanda
A Season to Read
This is one of my tender favorites, too.
Funny on your rodeo list: I’m not big on Ferris wheels (something about the starting and stopping) and I’m not much for cotton candy, so “watching cowboys” sounded like the best option. 🙂
Breaking into blossom… I’m down with that. Beautiful poem.
Tanita Says 🙂
Wow, I loev that — I think I’ve had that moment — of being in the moment, so perfectly in love, in harmony, in sync — that breaking into blossom felt like a distinct possibility.
You have YOUR OWN HORSE!? Ooh, lucky! A lot of work, and a lot of joy.
we too wen to the rodeo last week. The running of the horses, free, was the only time I actually breathed easy. Too much anxiety for this gal. I’ll leave the bucking and bull stomping for the tough skins. Beautiful poem.
shannon