Joe`s Mare Watched Me

• Thomas Bussau, Grade 8
• Poetry
• 2015

Joe’s mare watched me with kind, liquid eyes
Her chestnut head, deep muscled chest, nuzzled my hand.

Sitting astride her, across the Spring Creek gorge, left Beechworth behind,forgot my hunger.
The chestnut flowed, over the rough ground, speckled shadow and blue light.

Knew her way to the shallow gully, granite escarpment above Joe’s home,
Put the fear of God in most skilled horsemen,
Plunging cliffs, easy for Joe’s mare,
I enjoyed the rhythm and her sure footed stride.

Topped a low spur, followed a sapling fenceline,
The mare picking her way through strands of stringy bark swinging away from the creek.

Joe’s mare watched me.