When It’s Time to Pretend What’s Real
Seabiscuit
I’m
stepping back,
unhitching
the latch,
walking
through the gate,
saunterng
into the pasture
where
you, Seabiscuit,
are
spending your final years.
Here, my
vicarious entry
to a
realm
of
claimed greatness.
The grass
green and thick,
your body
firm and stately
as I knew
it would be.
Our eyes
meet
as if you
know me
with your
nod
beckoning
me to stroke
your
magnificent forehead.
And yes,
you’re small
holding
that big heart.
You lived
the underdog,
returned from
hopeless injury
to name
your victory,
became
lead money-winner
of
all-time.
My, you
were eccentric--
sleeping
all those
non-athletic
hours,
your need
for Pumpkin--
stall-mate
to calm you;
perhaps,
too, the inspiration,
despite
your slight frame,
for your
outsized appetite.
O, your
felicity to behold
with your
owner, trainer,
jockey
and adoring crowds,
primping
proudly as you
pranced
before the race.
You,
Biscuit, the original, gave.
We, the
fortunate, received.
You got
more ink
than
Hitler or Roosevelt
and died
when I was nine,
buried
where no one knows.
To Ponder
1. There are times in all our lives when some
strong desire
can be met only
through fantasy.
2. As a child I heard adults speak of Seabiscuit
in awe. I just
thought he had a
catchy name.
3. Then in 2001 Laura Hillenbrand wrote her
dazzling
monster seller
with simply his name as its title.
4. I, a slow reader, swallowed it up in two
days, wonderfully akin to its
central
characters.
5. Always an energized sports enthusiast, I
learned, too, that the jockey is
probably
the greatest athlete in all sport.
6. I loved this
horse of the pages---his championship heart,
his overcoming adversity, even his vain
personality.
7. Only through
fantasy—my imagination---did I meet him
and make him my
friend and ongoing inspiration.
___________
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© 2013 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All
Rights Reserved.
________________________________________________________
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Labels: Seabisuit, To Ponder, When It’s Time to Pretend What’s Real
