In the Light of Peace
–-painting by Bruce King of the Oneida Nation
The travelers are cold and wet
mounted on Appaloosas.
The constellations on the horse’s rumps
recall numerous ancestors.
The riders hunch under blankets
of elk and buffalo skins sewn together
with bone and horsehair rosettes;
on their heads, bunches of eagle feathers
and buffalo-horn war bonnets.
Not many words pass between the riders.
They think about the future–
the hunt tomorrow
or all the wagons coming west.
But the horses are excited,
snorting, shifting their weight north and south,
letting colorful clouds
slip under their hooves
to join their reflections
on the wet ground.
The colors shiver in the sky and clouds,
run down the rivers and hills together,
painting the moment strong.
Frank Babcock lives in Corvallis, Oregon and is a retired Albany middle school teacher and owner of a bamboo nursery. He writes poetry to share the strange thoughts that rattle around in his head and to get them off his mind. He started with an interest in the beatnik poets, Ferlinghetti and Ginsberg. He has a long way to go and much to write before he sleeps. Poems published in the local Advocate, Willawaw Journal, and Panoplyzine.
