VANQUISHED

An uproar in my neighbour’s yard I heard,
Which brought me scurrying out into my own.
A sad, unsightly sight it was that stirred
Before my eyes – in all its crudeness shown!

I soon descried, amidst the pandemonium,
A gallant horse with head lifted high,
Incommoded by a bunch of hoodlums
Who tried, with whips, his pride to mortify.

Revolted he and kicked with violent wrath;
Ululantly loud was heard his neighbouring:
And from his mouth, exuded foaming froth,
With ‘hey!s  and ho!s’ while beastly men were braying.

Mobbing him, all round, like bustling bees,
With bridles, bits and reins in their possession,
Trainers tried a sneaky chance to seize
To harness him, amidst a flogging session!

Sanguineous streams soon started flowing
While scourges lashed the horse relentlessly!
I saw, aghast, that bits of skin were blowing
Off, while humans sought ascendancy!

No more could I withstand this grizzly scene
(Where man looked the beast and beast the man):
So back I went into my room to screen
My eyes against this horse-mastering clan.

But lingered, still, a morbid, mental picture
And thoughts that I would rather have forsaken:
My restless mind started to conjecture
What turn the show, next, door, would have taken.

My neighbour’s new equine acquisition
Had looked to me Pegasus come alive -
For artists all a paying proposition,
Their theme and inspiration to derive!

This captive horse must have left behind
Hoof-prints of his boundless liberty -
Setting sail, in poets’ streaming minds,
Ship-loads of prancing poetry!

With flowing mane and trail’s flying tresses,
Like wind he must have raced – fast and free!
Now, here he is, entrapped in human meshes
For coaching in the art of slavery!

Soon his broken will will be bridled;
His freedom, soon, will find itself in chains;
His princely pride, with cunning will be stifled;
Unvanquished, not for long, he’ll remain.

Lost in gloomy thoughts and reflections,
Lost was I to how much time I spent.
Now, apprehensively, for reinspection
Of my hooved hero, out I went.

The ungulate no more was ‘flying horse’:
That all his pride lay in disarray
His lowered head and eyes did endorse:
I saw him being meekly led away.