Another week has rolled around and here we are at our second Story Day: Winner’s Edition! (Yes, I made that up on the spot.) Today, you all get to read the second-place winner’s amazing poem, titled The Midnight Stallion. Interested? Me too. XP So let’s hear it for Emily Waldorf!!
The Midnight Stallion
Darkness claims the barren loam
This heavy night when fell winds roam.
A figure comes running through the gloam,
His midnight flanks white-flecked with foam.
Through the nighted darkness he comes and will come
Running riderless.
Noiseless lightning flickers by,
Its reflection lingering in his eye,
Sudden he rears and utters a cry,
Desperate, he tears at the lowering sky.
Somewhere tonight a man must die,
For he runs riderless.
He touches the ground as a drop of rain
Falls, and echoing fills the plain
As thunder follows his scream of pain.
Up! With the wind he is running again.
But behind is the ditch where his master is lain
As he runs riderless.
On the hillock above him stands a farm
No lights glowing, nor cause for alarm.
But his nostrils flare and his blood grows warm:
Unseen in the shadows is that arm
That rose with malice, quick to harm
And made him riderless.
The heat of rage in his master’s stead
Warms his flanks. With furious tread
He crests the hill—a cry of dread
Breaks from behind an outer shed.
The stallion’s coat is flecked with red:
Another’s horse shall be riderless!
The storm winds howl against the deed
As away from the hill with lightning speed
His ravenous hooves—without heed
That they count the seconds a man might bleed
As they carry the crimson and midnight steed
Across the hills and riderless!
High on a muddy, deserted hill
From a darkling cloudbank raindrops spill;
On the wind is borne a sudden thrill—
A sobbing wail, high and shrill.
In the first gray light, dank and chill,
A horse runs riderless.
About the Author
Emily Waldorf doesn’t remember when she started to love writing. She enjoys writing both prose and poetry, but poems make her heart sing in a way that prose wasn’t designed for. Her passion for poetry was sparked early on, when her mom recited Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Swing to her while pushing her “up in the air so blue.” Longfellow is her inspiration and the poet she tries to emulate. She write nature and Christian-themed poems and like to experiment with different meters and rhyme schemes. When she’s not writing she enjoy reading, watching movies, and being with her family.
*shivers* To be honest, it took me a couple read-throughs of this poem to get the meaning Emily was conveying, but when I grasped it, I kinda just sat there. This poem was not only so good in rhyme and rhythm and formatting and all that jazz, but I’d never even heard any concept that came remotely close to this tale. So, well done, Emily!! You were so close to first I almost feel like second doesn’t quite do you justice. XD Whatever the case, congrats again and thank you for submitting!!
Until next time,
Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth!! 😀
~Joelle
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