Creative Writing

Wild Creature, a Sestina

The sun had just risen enough to touch the barn,

but already, the lone horse

stood awake, having slept on the hay.

The girl feeding him felt

the magnificence of the creature,

that nothing could match its strength.

The horse's strength

topped all else in the barn.

It was, indeed, a creature

of strength, but also habit. This horse

was the girl's favorite. She felt

his coat as she dusted off some hay.

She was calm, dumping hay

into the fodder for feed. Her strength

grew as she worked. She felt

muscles growing. The barn

was old and decaying, unlike the horse

that was powerful and growing, a creature

viewed by many as wild, a creature

fighting for survival. The horse rolled in the hay,

and the girl laughed. She knew a good horse

who was raised well had strength

in him, no doubt, but all from a barn

were softies, like a sweater of felt.

The young girl felt

she had nothing to fear. She knew the creature

since it was born inside that very barn.

She cleaned up the hay

it had first known. She saw its strength

grow. Her child was that horse.

In the end, however, the horse

would betray her in a moment he felt

fear. He would display her strength

and remind her he is still a creature,

even though he lies in hay

that she put down in the barn.

Trust but beware a tamed horse and all its strength.

A barn can restrain and hay soften,

but emotions felt can bescarred by the inner beast of any creature.