At Encanto Ranch

At Encanto Ranch hard shadows led the old
race-winner horses as they clop the summer-hot
trail along the mountainside toward the top.

Terracotta-colored thoroughbreds and
twitch-eared bay ponies, now slow moving
(but working) through the hot September breeze,

through forgotten rains and lost cloudlight switchbacks,
to carry on as though for some purpose alone
where riders’ soft voices guide them through

their memories—of racetracks long glory gone,
of breeze pastures past-whispered—then pause
in the trail where the noon sun fires the hillside.

Below, sun-wrested Encanto Ranch; above, hawks turning
in the bluesky updraft. But the horses don’t see this:
Heads lowered smelling the coarse mineral ground,

patiently waiting for the journey to return again.
And then the hushed command, equally patient, moves
the horses forward into the unrelenting infernolike

Santa Ana winds that return to frantically find
the old trails as they were before: on a red-dirt incline
that neither forgives or remembers


but pulls at them to work as they had when
they were strong: for when the saddle is fitted they are
again the mighty, moving horses of Encanto Ranch.

And while not all will see the mountaintop, they know
the trail from the road and can smell the water in the rain
even when it’s months away—horses don’t forget either.

Reviews

[Mary]

Thomas, this poem is so much filled with beautiful images of the horses that remember their roots, their racing past. They are the elders, walking their new paths not as tired old horses, but as dignified creatures who walk deliberatly, always remembering. Through your poem, I have had the the honor to meet these grand elders.

[SM Davis]

Encanto ranch sounds like an endearing place. Lovely poem. Your imagery here is well done.

[Havoc08]

Excellent use of description and phrasing structure. I felt as though I was standing by them, feeling sensing, tasting, and remembering. Excellent piece, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Jimmy

[Ken Simm.]

I can see why Emma wanted me to read this..... and she was right.
Everything she said.

[SHEEMA HUQ]

very clearly written, with a nice rhyming scheme and educational too

[lee von cleef]

Smell water in the rain,now that is a line ,I don't know if time is the same to a horse, but I unloaded a four year old who had not been home in three years, his mom nickered three paddocks away. Devotion .

[Bobbie Coelho]

Very good poem.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Enchanting and descriptive piece tinged with sad reflection. Reads fluidly with great description. A thoroughly well penned tale

[Dr. Wood ?]

ditto to Leslie really...great structure and terrific momentum....Great Poem

[Leslie Philibert]

I really like the three line structure, and the way you work the theme, good one.