'The horse and the rider are one,' said the flat-capped countryman who stood by the unpainted rail of the jumping enclosure. Lines in parallel boy's back and horse's as they rose in a perfect arc to the triple bars. That achieved perfection celebrates itself and is a moment's celebration in the watcher's eye: We are borne up in communion by a horse, by a song.
This poem is published in Witness to Magic (Hearing Eye, London 1996) and is reprinted by kind permission of the author and publisher. Kathleen McPhilemy’s other poetry collections include A Tented Peace (1995) and The Lion in the Forest (2004), both from Katabasis.