More than a Boy
Image: Pixabay
This poem is a love story of sorts and is based very loosely on a true incident that happened after a friend’s brother took my horse without permission from where it was tied.
This story is different, however, and imagines a shy and troubled young boy of around thirteen who is enamored with a kind and beautiful young woman training her horse on the beach. All is well until the young woman’s fiance shows up and the ensuing events lead to tragedy.
MORE THAN A BOY
He was troubled and young,
but not yet was a man,
though he wished
he could prove he was more
to a girl he saw riding a spirited horse
on a beach and its glistening shore.
From that moment he saw her
she captured his heart
and it flipped and it fluttered like wings
but he doubted his words,
she would never have heard,
for a boy doesn’t know of such things.
So, each day on the beach
he had sat and he dreamed,
wishing he put the kiss on her cheek,
but he stayed out of sight
as he watched the horse dance
and he searched for the
courage to speak.
But another had joined her
with love in his eyes
and her smile set the heavens apart.
The boy’s anger had sparked
and his jealousy burned
for he wanted that place in her heart.
So, with temper and tears,
he had crept to her horse
and he took it from where it was tied
and he wrenched on the stirrups
and snatched at the reins
as he mounted its saddle to ride.
But the horse was beyond him,
too hard to control,
as the girl had cried out in dismay.
When the boy saw her anguish,
he tried to turn back
but was destined for
heartbreak that day.
For the horse ran on fast,
it was mad with a fear
that the boy was now helpless to stop
and it ploughed up the dunes
and it burst through the fence
to the roadway that waited on top.
The horse kicked and it reared
and it threw the boy clear
as it slid on the black oily tar
and the girl and her lover
came running at speed
to see only the flash of a car.
And her screams took a knife
to the boy’s foolish heart –
how he wished he was more than a boy –
as he lay there and cried
and he felt the regret
for the horse she would
have to destroy.
So, the ambulance came
and the doors were both closed,
as it left that sad scene well behind.
The boy stared into space
and he wished he had died.
for it played like a film in his mind.
To his bedside she came,
to make sure he was right,
but his guilt like a flame it had flared
and his eyes couldn’t meet hers,
his words they fell mute,
for he didn’t deserve that she cared.
Then she said she was leaving
and moving away,
and was going to marry her friend,
and she hoped he did well,
and could find his true love,
because that’s all there is in the end.
Then she kissed him so softly
and whispered these words –
“We have each only one life to live,
so don’t squander what’s yours
on a wasted remorse,
it’s yourself you must learn to forgive.”
The boy heeded her words
and he found the right way
and his troubled young heart
is now strong.
He’s much more than a boy,
he’s become a fine man
and he’s found his own place to belong.
But he’s grateful each day
for the lessons he learned
and the chance to have
proven he’s more
to a girl he saw riding a spirited horse
on a beach and its long-ago shore.