The Dauphin's Horse
by Franz Baskett

                                      … It is a theme as fluent as the sea;
                                                                   Henry V, iii, 7.

Restive under saddle always was she,
Wonder of twitches, starts and bolts.
When you rode her, you knew miracles
Of pace, acceleration, power, speed.

The old groom with the broken jaw
Slept beside her every night
Soft in the straw. He wanted to.
Each night he lay in the corner

And listened to the knocking barn.
Dreamed how she would look
The next day when the Dauphin came
Decked bright and bedazzling, both.

The Dauphin a bridal rider
And she a champing blister of sunlight,
The deep back and the wide chest,
Her long tail lashing the groom’s eye.

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