Monday, June 28, 2010

Cowgirl at heart...

Horse and Cowboy Sculpture on the road to "Sisters" Eastern Oregon

I spent the last morning of my trip to Bend on the road with my friend Gioia..., she wanted to take me down the road a ways to get up close and personal with the Three Sisters mountains and see more of the beautiful high desert countryside around Bend... Wow it is just gorgeous - beautiful meadows, clear bluest of blue sky, majestic mountains in ever direction, horses real (and otherwise) grazing in pastures at every turn...  What can I say?  It was so stunning, so spacious, the air clean and pure..., it got me thinking about what it would be like to live in this place, have a horse (I LOVED horses as a young girl and wanted my own so very much...,) as I near my 49th birthday I ask, am I too old to learn to ride and or have my own horse at this stage in my life, too old to have some land to call our own???

I am so very drawn to the desert, and western way of living, maybe I'm just a cowgirl at heart...?
I love the wildness of the desert, the way it smells, the way I feel in the vast open- ness of it all...

Whilst looking for a poem about wild horses, I came upon this one,, hope you like it.. I love it:)))

When I am Old...

I shall wear
turquoise And a 
straw cowboy hat
that doesn't match
and doesn't suit
me.  And I shall 
spend my social 
security on white 
wine and carrots
And sit in the 
alley way of my
barn  And listen to
my horses breathe.
I will sneak out in
the middle of a 
summer night  And
ride the dappled
mare  Across the
moonstruck
meadow,  If my 
old bones will
allow.  And when
people come to
call, I will smile
and nod, As I
walk them past the
gardens to the
barn  And show,
instead, the
flowers growing
there.  In stalls
fresh-lined with
straw I will learn
to shovel and
sweat and wear
hay in my hair as
if it were a jewel.
And I will be an 
embarrassment to
my only
child Who will 
have not yet found
the peace in being
free  To love a 
horse as a friend,
A friend who
waits at midnight
hour With muzzle
and nicker and
patient eyes For
the kind of person
I will be When I
am old.

Patty Barnhart





  

2 comments:

The Quintessential Magpie said...

I love how they took the poem, "When I Am Old, I Shall Wear Purple" and turned it into a cowgirl poem! How clever! I can tell you from my own past experience, there is nothing like horses. Nothing. They are the most beautiful creature on earth next to deer, and it's a whole lot more fun to ride a horse than to try and saddle a deer! ;-)

Looks like you are having a lot of fun. Continue to enjoy your trip...

XO,

Sheila :-)

Joke van de Klift said...

Wat een prachtig gedicht!
Lieve groetjes,
Joke