WARNING: Embarrassingly artsy nonsense ahead....

For my AP English IV class. This is the first "write your own" thing we've done throughout the year. Fun, but hard. And I was not anticipating that I would get this artsy. Oh well, I just want a passing grade :)

Ode to Greta

Fair as a pearl

Junoesque and defiant.

Forthcoming talent yet slow to unfurl,

Always when I bestride you I struggle to find it.

Firstly I only catch a glance

Leading to many strides;

Floating, dancing, très Ballet Blanc

Together in trance

Regardless of our personal prides.

Now we are cast away, far away, not in arena, not on fine dirt, for once nothing is of want.

First a feeling

A moment of suspension building

Hearts racing, minds reeling

Am I the passenger, or am I wielding?

Both, for I see your moment as you now see mine

Leather-bound calf against barrel

All four feet, and mine, now alight like a Christened fire in the air.

This moment; so wonderful it must be sinful, so beautiful it must be divine

So calculated it must be tame, so much of your own accord it must be feral

The barrier between beast and artful equal through which now you tear.

The first strike, a sprinkle of dust flies

A hoof against the ground.

Success! Now we are beyond tries

The moment has been found.

We are now art, unconventional dancers

I do not control you, I simply asked

You did it of your own accord.

But this is only part of the answers

With which we are unknowingly tasked

To why riding strikes a chord.

Is it that moment of dance?

Is it that moment of galore?

Or is it outside that trance,

Is it something more?

Greta, Promethean equine, tell me now

Out of the saddle, out of the arena

Out of our stage

As you so fondly do, put your forelock to my brow

Inspire me like an Athena

Release me, enlighten me, make human want for selfish, useless glory no more my cage.

And you, my Halcyon, my soul you breath into,

“Now you see clearly. It is not blue silk nor silver trophies. Thus, I do know this

We fulfill one another, we give one another purpose, and for all you have taught me even as I teach you,

The least I can give you is that bliss.”

Riding is not for riding’s sake,

Riding is for the horse,

It is simply a job among and between those moments of love and understanding two species make,

It is purpose, and even with all the trials and tribulations, never once shall I feel regret nor remorse.