Unintentional Help

Screaming fits were commonly heard,
from the other side of the fence.
I didn’t know where they came from,
or why.

One day,
a boy came running toward me.
I picked my head up and stared,
distracted from my grazing.
I had never seen him before.

The small one ducked under the fence;
I stood still, not wanting or needing to move.
The boy, who had been screaming
while he ran,
was calm.

I knew the one who came after him,
though I hadn’t seen him recently.
The tall one looked surprised, and
stared at the small one and me.

The tall one came in my pasture,
picked the small one up,
and set him on my back.
It wasn’t new to me;
two-leggeds had sat on me before.

I saw them both more often,
the small one rode a lot. The tall
one always rode too, and seemed amazed that
the small one wouldn’t scream
near me.

The screams had come from the boy.

Snow came and left
before I saw them again.
When they came back, the boy was quiet.
The tall one put the boy on me,
but didn’t climb on after.
The boy rode alone.

Later, tall one told me
that I had done something special.
I didn’t understand everything,
but tall one said I helped
the boy stop screaming.

Tall one asked me how I did it.
I stared at him, put my head down,

and ate some grass.

About this piece: I got the poem idea after watching The Horse Boy. I can’t exactly say that the poem is completely true, because I wasn’t there when Rowan met Betsy. But I did hear Rupert, Rowan’s father, talk about the experience.