To Hell on Horseback

Just down the hill at Saint John’s Hollow
out of the forest emerged a white horse
and drunk on my wine I endeavored to follow
upon his weaving and faltering course

This mangled horse blazed through the midnight wood
he ran the half up to my yard
and there by the glistening moon where he stood
I saw a familiar face, though now scarred

Could this sick abomination be
this mangled steed, a legend from my past?
in my stable seven years now empty
reunited with it’s owner at long last

Then instantly he ran into a clearing
in the forest mentioned here before
I followed in his footsteps never veering
up to the undead horse now dead once more

I shouted in the voice of a god
commanding life into the lifeless beast
“RISE AND WALK THE EARTH THAT YOU ONCE TROD”
and rise he did, despite again being deceased

But halfway to his feet he fell again
-I shouted life back into him once more
and with some power unannounced to men
he rose up reborn from the forest floor

With a stare he motioned me to ride
upon his back as I did in years before
and we rode swiftly o’re the countryside
for miles, miles to some river shore

And I was certain there were other riders
galloping behind, t’was five or six
all chasing me—an unwelcome outsider
-I knew we rode the shore of the River Styx

We blazed on with those demons chasing
-I saw one clearly, turning, looking back
they ran full speed, while my wise horse was pacing
and we left them far behind us in our tracks

I dismounted in a meadow filled with flowers
asking “What brings you back into the hands of men
riding to Hell in early morning hours
then returning to the worldly once again?”

He whispered not a sigh as his reply
falling to dust before my very eyes
and in some bewilderment I wondered why
he returned again into his dark demise

As I made the journey back uphill
I wondered what these happenings had meant
was it me, or undead horse they sought to kill
and was that the hell from where my horse was sent?

I tell you, I never found his intention
and though this is a wild thing to say
I am terror-struck each time that I mention
but I hope to ride to hell again someday