the yearling ahead of the herd

 

 

Taking a walk

 

There she goes again.

She’s running ahead, beyond my reach,

she stops and waits if I call loud enough,

but she doesn’t shout back.

Taking a walk

   isn’t something she needs to do

      in measured steps with me.

 

It’s the daring.

I think she’s not testing limits,

she’s learning what to do,

and how to do it,

before a limit comes into view,

before it makes her mindful.

 

It’s the dashing.

It’s not escape, it’s exuberance.

It’s a style of open plains loping,

she doesn’t see the sidewalk

   that I’m following,

she’s following the instinct

   of the yearling ahead of the herd.

 

It’s the dancing.

She runs, she skips,

she jumps, she hears a music

   that has nothing to do

      with my cautions

         or my grown-up obligation

            or my protective love.

 

It’s the doing.

I understand that she is

   reaping new experiences in her life.

There is no danger outside my imagination.

The coyotes are out of range,

I’m sure of it and she depends on me.

 

She is a dasher, a dancer and a prancer,

and it is my joy

   to scramble to catch up to her again.

 

April 22, 2017

My oldest granddaughter likes being out in front. She has never actually ranged far enough ahead to be out of my sight. I don’t know if she would go that far. I guess she wouldn’t do it deliberately. I don’t really think she might be attacked by a dog rushing out from the next home she passes…I can’t get that completely out of my mind. I can guess at the horizons she’s pushing back in her mind. She won’t understand the joy/fear in my mind until she’s a lot older. There are three more grandkids in line behind her. I’m learning to walk faster.

 

My poem “Taking a walk” was published in my second collection of 47 poems, Seeing far: Selected poems.

You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle),

or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Movie review: Same Time, Next Year

all-American adultery, oh yeah…

click here

–

Seeing far: Selected poems with 47 free verse and haiku poems,

and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)

and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

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© 2023 – 2024, Richard Subber. All rights reserved.