With the beat and the strum

Of crickets at my bone

I am proud, strong and roan.

The dry heat of summer,

The cold snap of winter,

A heart beating like a drummer, 

A twinge at the center, 

So tame have I become!

In the dark, cold and numb,

In the light, warm and loved,

In the dirt, cruelly shoved,

My veins on fire, I was alive!

I am alive, and forward I strive

Against my harness, bridle and bit

I throw my head, prodding my wit.

I am unbroken, yet shattered all the same

Playing fancies on my name.

And I run, so swiftly, so far,

Wind whipping a view of my star.

Then I am free, soaring the land

Until brought short by hard hand.