April Is Poetry Month: Shakespeare's Horse

During the month of April, in honor of National Poetry Month, I am re-posting poems that I have written and shared on this blog. This one is from October 18, 2011. It is appropriate to honor Shakespeare this month because tomorrow, April 23, is the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death in 1616. He was born somewhere around this date in 1564. The only documentation we have of his birth is his baptism day, April 26, 1564.

The following poem was written a few years ago after reading Shakespeare's Sonnet 50 which you may read for yourself here.

Shakespeare's Horse

(In response to Sonnet 50)

Magnificent was the beast

Who carried our noblest poet,

The one who gave voice to humanity's woes and triumphs;

Whose song would be heard for ages to come

And whose words would set the standard

For a new era.

Perhaps it was a country lane,

Or it may have been a London side street

That they traveled that day.

"Beast of burden" is too trite a term

For the equine essence

Who collaborated in the Bard's journey.

The man bore within his heart

All the joys and sorrows of a people,

And enough dreams of love and despair

   to fill the world.

It was not the first time

That a four-legged creature

Carried humanity's hopes

Along an earthly road.

Which is why one is jolted

Disappointed

And dismayed

To hear of the poet thoughtlessly kicking

A bloody spur

Into the side

Of his creature companion.

            How unlike a god.

But here is that redeeming moment seen

Which covers many doubts that might have been:

The horse's groan

Resonated with the poet's own grief

And gave voice to his unutterable heart-felt emotion.

It brought the man to himself

To live in the moment

On the road,

On the journey,

Bearing his own burden.

And the groan shared by man and beast

Spoke more than all the words that would come

From the acclaimed poet's pen.

Charles Kinnaird

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