When I was a girl, I often dreamed
that I rode a haunted horse whose head was ether
and its steady breath was my own pulse
sounding through my ear pressed hard upon the pillow.
We rode in slow procession through
the house gone unfamiliar in weird shadows
pulling a death-carriage behind us
and it seemed that I labored while the horse hovered
With lantern lights for eyes
on each side in concert with the slant moon
dim-blind through silver windows
but watching as the horse's flanks rose and fell.
A bareback rider, I hooked fingers
through streamers of jet mane like widow's weeds in a breeze,
hoping to hang on, to wake up
only to see Thanatos the ostler smiling and standing
At the stable door holding a gleaming dark apple for his charge.
_________
For Sunday Muse #236.
Music: Snakefarm "All The Pretty Little Horses"
Greek bearing a gift ... beware, both you and horse.
ReplyDelete"gone unfamiliar in weird shadows"
ReplyDeleteThis poem is magical, Shay - I love it!
~David
This poem reads like the most enchanting dream....the haunted horse with his lantern eyes, the slant moon through silver windows. Absolutely gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteMan, I hate waking up to Thanatos. Especially when he grabs my cool dream horse and takes it away.
ReplyDeleteThis was extremely delightful to read. Just like a scene from a supernatural film. I loved the mystical feel !
ReplyDeleteI love poems of deep dreams and this is truly vast and wide with feeling and meaning my friend! A gorgeous poem with too many wonderful lines to quote!
ReplyDeleteO M G. This is magic.
ReplyDeleteThe sense of personal space invaded by darkness that only dreams can give pervades this. The other-worldly horse, the unearthly glow of its lantern eyes, the hearse and Thanatos himself all lend a Poe-like chill that makes me glad I have been spared this particular visitation. I find it interesting that you rode through the house, a distortion of space that could never actually accommodate a horse and rider, yet does. You definitely brought the grue with this one, Shay, and all the more so for the elegant style in which you wrote it. Second and third stanzas are my favorites, but it all breathes out the essence of nightmare fluently.
ReplyDeleteRiding your own nightmare, yet who's riding whom? The loss of control over our fears and where they may carry is overwhelming in this poetic hallucinatory journey. A horse of ether. A death carriage. A dark apple. Thanatos smiling. Our very fears can defeat us even before the journey begins it seems. Another dark jewel of a poem, Shay.
ReplyDeleteWhimsical, magical and simply brilliant!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant piece of writing :)
ReplyDeleteThe horse and environment shift in the dream accommodating room for the dream to transpire. The elements of darkness seem to twist the dream into a nightmare. The carriage is unsettling for me as a reader. The imagery in the third stanza is well done. An interesting read!
ReplyDeleteLove, "A bareback rider, I hooked fingers
ReplyDeletethrough streamers of jet mane like widow's weeds in a breeze,"
A brilliant, magical poem, Shay!