Elemental Lives

My  hammer  man  strikes          .'•-:, -
the horseshoe, showering  sparks rV  . ...
streak his arms.

His eyes fix the flames, their olive-green
lights and fades
from  green to brown  to green   . : . .
glinting as the metal rings.    -,:,::. . . .

You  strike, strike,              -T.- , = -
your  kilt swings black and blue, .. ..,-
thick rough loops of cloth       .-<--.;- , ••
fold your shoulder, tuck-in       .  -
across your belly hard and low

and  the horse stands slow, quiet,   -,- :
patient with an age of dreaming      -,- v
in his calm brown  eyes,         .;,.
his auburn mane  braided
neat about his neck      , . .,,. ., -,r .,

and  you rub his nose ...
1 know  that palm rough and  warm.   _•.- .
The  fire lights your chin, you
plunge  the iron, evade the steam
the metal hates your hand        . •

but  bends ... outrage hisses the still
evening air
I watch your  body  move, the slow
twitch of the horse's tail, my own hair
smells of woodsmoke
and  1 pleat it         ......
as  your muscles clench, clench, let go.

Rhythmic  ringing shakes the leaves,
the  grass is lush and green beneath
this man, this horse and me.   Our lives
are  elemental as the trees,
and  we are free as wind,
 the water in our well sweet and clean.

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