Feet tremble and falter on the rocky fall ground

wrinkled eyelids tell of the trouble

founder

six times

Old skin and coat of muddy buckskin

flat hooves

tangled tail

but the eyes see all-

standing amid old pines and fallen oaks

the haunt of the backdrop-

land full of black bears the bumble through the fenceline

make her shudder

But in the trees she sees decades

of summers, falls, winters, springs

all now a whirlwind of time

wrapped with hugging children

and blue ribbons