untitled, Alyssa

I watched as a horse raced across the plains. His charcoal colored mane billowed out from a strongly built neck, looking like the sail of a boat caught in a storm. I could see muscles rippling under a coat the color of burnt toast as the horse heightened his speed from a canter to a gallop. His hooves sounded like the boom of a firecracker as they collided with rocks buried in sand the color of a sunset. I watched as his gait slowed and he trotted over to stand in front of me. I held out a hand for him to sniff and he bowed his head as he delicately inspected it. His breath on my hand was as soft as morning mist, as gentle as a lover’s caress. I stroked the beautiful head that was as soft as silk while he watched me from intelligent eyes the color of melting chocolate. I led him over to a rock half-covered by sand. It felt warm against my bare feet as it was heated by the midday sun’s golden rays. The horse, knowing what I intended, edged a bit closer to the rock and pawed the ground. It too, eagerly awaited the moment when we both could run freely across the sand. Then I was on his back, sitting as though I’d been born there. We charged across the desert, jumping over cactuses with spines sharper than a grandmother's sewing needle, dodging clumps of grass where a snake could be lying as it waited to strike with fangs deadlier than daggers. Our ride was cut short as my horse abruptly stopped at the edge of a cliff. Below us, a herd of wild horses looked up, ears pricked forward as they listened, nostrils flared to catch any scent that indicated danger. We stood there for a few moments, a dark silhouette against the setting sun, watching the horses and the raging river they stood beside, before my mount made his way down the cliff with steps as graceful and as careful as a dancer’s. I dismounted at the base of the cliff, and my horse and I mingled with his herd. The wild horses were beautiful, with coats ranging from a white lighter that freshly fallen snow, to a mahogany the color of the vanishing sun. Their manes ranged from a black darker than that of my horse’s to a honey brown the color of my own hair. Finally, a dark shape nudged me from behind. I turned to see my horse, he was almost invisible, but I knew it was him, I could see the moon reflected in his melting chocolate eyes. He climbed back up a part of the cliff by the river, and I followed him. The steps were slippery from droplets of river water, and my feet slipped and slided as though I was on an ice rink. I made it up eventually though and mounted the shadow that was blacker than night, my horse. We galloped back across the desert under the stars, each like a miniature sun, stuck in a blue darker than the worst nightmare. The journey back from the herd seemed shorter than the one to, and I cried as we hopped the fence that surrounded my house, the tears looked like pieces of the moon. I found myself wishing I could capture the wild horse standing in front of me. He stretched out his neck and his magnificent head brushed my palm. In that instant, that sliver of time smaller than the point of a needle, I knew what it meant to be him. I saw the world through his eyes, and we became one. I lived his life, from when he was a colt gazing in wonder at a snowflake melting on his nose, to very recently, when he and his herd ran along the Oceanside as blue-green waves flecked with foam brushed their hooves. I was him a few hours ago, going against his instincts, when he allowed me to ride him, to meet his herd in its secret place by the river. That moment of time seemed to last forever, though in truth it was no more than a second. But in that second, I realized I could capture all the wild beauty and spirit in this horse, but I could never truly tame it never make it my own. If I kept it, the horse’s wildness would slowly fade; dying away until the horse that had once ran freely across the desert was only the shadow of a memory, as empty as a wordless book. And so I watched as the horse I would never be able to call my own galloped away, his twilight colored coat silver in the moonlight, running freely under the stars and sun for all time.

This is untitled, suggestions for one would be nice, or just a comment about the piece.