Hotspur

Hotspur

Pony No. 1

I lie upon my bed
Wrapped in a cozy patchwork quilt
Shrouded by the eerie darkness of night
Waiting for sleep to come.

I suddenly find myself on foot
Surrounded by a lovely meadow.
Tender green shoots of spring
Are dotted with tiny clover plants
And a wooden fence marks the boundary lines.

HERE HE COMES!
MY DREAM PONY!!

A sleek and glossy black he is,
Flying with the wind like a comet.
His long mane whips to and fro
As his little feet clear the fence.

His little velvety head
Nuzzles my shoulder
And steals an apple from my pocket.

Not needing a single strap to restrain his body,
I mount him.
I press my heels in to his sides.
"Go for it, Hotspur!
I whisper
For fear someone will hear.

He is off like a shot
Just to match his namesake.
King of the wind he is.

Away we canter
Frisking with the wind
Frolicking in the grass,
Then FINALLY
His little feet again clear the fence.

Away we go
Over dreampony trails.
Rough terrain,
Steep ravines,
Dropoff cliffs,
Rocky ledges,
Rivers flowing strong and swift,
And narrow, winding paths
Are for our enjoyment alone.

Cantering through
Woods of giant, towering redwood
With their green canopy and crunchy carpet
And woven webs of silvery light;
Through low grasslands
With their tall, swaying sea of grass;
Short steppes of buffalo grass
And the full moon riding the inky sky above,
We leave not a single hoofprint,
No, not a single mark
Of our nocturnal existence.

As I notice
The waning of the night's full moon,
Hotspur brings me home
Back to our spring-spangled paddock.

As the grayish light of dawn breaks
I dismount.
Home, sweet home!
Hotspur crops tender grass.
We bask in the sun's first golden rays of warmth.
I pat him thanks.
I scratch his withers and stroke his nose.
He tells me thanks for no bit or saddle.

The sun rises
Bright and beautifully promising,
But I refuse to open my eyes.
PLEASE! PLEASE!!
JUST A LITTLE LONGER!!!

I bury my face
In my dreampony's cozy neck
Away from the nosy light.
He nickers softly
As if to say:

"I am one of a kind,
A nocturnal and ghostly dreampony
Named Hotspur.
I chose you out of a thousand.
Love me while I am here,
But I must go.
I will return,
I promise,
For you, too, are one of a kind."

Day breaks through my window
Bright, rosy and inviting
Prying through my eyelids.

OH HOTSPUR!
He has vanished
In to thin air
In to nothingness but the day...

COME BACK, HOTSPUR!
COME BACK!! COME BACK!!!
OH MY DREAMPONY!

But my entreating voice drifts away
As a useless echo, nothing more.

Really, he is gone.

I must awake now
And anticipate nightfall.