In which it is Poetry Month again, and it's time to celebrate!
The Bow-Legged Girl
4000 BC, North-Central Asia
by Jessie Haas
The bow-legged girl has left her bones behind,
Her wrist bones with their bracelets,
Her delicate neck tipped to one side
Under gold coins.
Melted into her hooped rib bones,
Battle-armor,
And her shin bones bend
To the shape of a horse's sides.
Her bones are notched with old arrow-wounds,
Her head it dinted,
But don't pity her youth, her early end.
It is certain that she dealt wounds too.
Buried beside her, her bow, her arrows,
A blade with a worn hilt.
She won many battles; this, her latest,
Proving beyond doubt
That the warrior world
Was not a man's world only.
In her day you would not have liked to meet her;
Walk into the show-barn down the road
With her on your mind,
And the hair will rise on the back of your neck.
You'll see her kind lording it
In every aisle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just so everybody knows, I didn't see any girls like the bow-legged girl in the poem when Ryan ventured over to take a real "english riding lesson". I tagged along to take pictures.
In fact, all the girls at the barn were supportive of this young cowboy who was willing to put on a helmet and climb into an english saddle!
Do you think we'll ever convince him to wear breeches?
Nikki is almost ready for a horse of her own. First, she had to ride a horse besides Mr Trustworthy, (Guy). She was plenty worried...
...but she did just fine.
4000 BC, North-Central Asia
by Jessie Haas
The bow-legged girl has left her bones behind,
Her wrist bones with their bracelets,
Her delicate neck tipped to one side
Under gold coins.
Melted into her hooped rib bones,
Battle-armor,
And her shin bones bend
To the shape of a horse's sides.
Her bones are notched with old arrow-wounds,
Her head it dinted,
But don't pity her youth, her early end.
It is certain that she dealt wounds too.
Buried beside her, her bow, her arrows,
A blade with a worn hilt.
She won many battles; this, her latest,
Proving beyond doubt
That the warrior world
Was not a man's world only.
In her day you would not have liked to meet her;
Walk into the show-barn down the road
With her on your mind,
And the hair will rise on the back of your neck.
You'll see her kind lording it
In every aisle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just so everybody knows, I didn't see any girls like the bow-legged girl in the poem when Ryan ventured over to take a real "english riding lesson". I tagged along to take pictures.
In fact, all the girls at the barn were supportive of this young cowboy who was willing to put on a helmet and climb into an english saddle!
Do you think we'll ever convince him to wear breeches?
Nikki is almost ready for a horse of her own. First, she had to ride a horse besides Mr Trustworthy, (Guy). She was plenty worried......but she did just fine. There are "bow-legged girls" in abundance here, but they mostly leave their weapons elsewhere.
Life is good!
I like that poem. Guess I'm a bow-legged gal myself, but if you ask my husband, he'd tell you my weapon is my tongue LOL!
ReplyDeleteLove poetry month - I'm signed up for the poem-a-day and always enjoy whatever shows up in my in-box!
ReplyDeleteRyan looks fantastic in that canter picture!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that the show barn is the place to find modern bow-legged girls.