Prequel To the Horses By Edwin Muir
It was not a decision taken lightly
When we found that our free servitude
Unrequited was by our chosen masters
With their metal monsters they had fallen in love
Growling,roaring and spitting fumes
Our nostrils filling with the smell of burnt sugar
Until that became an acrid stench
Drowning all the sweet sounds and scents of nature
In the raw
Our fields they usurped
While we were driven into odd and idle corners
To become their playthings
For pleasure alone
No more did we strive together in mutual harmony
With our erstwhile lords
According to the laws of the cosmos
Divinely ordained
Now their homes at night pulsed with a ghostly glow
While by day their gazes were held on screens
With the digital pallor
Reflected on their faces
Totally immune to the cycle of the seasons
It was then we chose to withdraw
And quietly retreated to our spiritual home
Bereft and pining for that lost communion
Which had served man and horse so well
In the Creator's plan
There was no more for us to do
Than to commune with the divine presence
Until they were wrenched free fom their spellbinding devices
And needed our companionship
Once again
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