Number 44. Slow Down!

Number 44

Slow Down!

Riders on horseback really hate,
Car drivers leaving it too late
To brake when they are driving fast,
And rushing as they squeeze on past.

We live a long way up a track,
And driving down is quite a knack.
You have to take it very slow,
Or hit the bumps if you’re too low.

So today as we went down,
Slowly heading out to town,
We were prepared the same of course,
To meet a rider on a horse.

But we were not prepared for what
Was not a rider at a trot.
It gave us all a major scare;
Someone was galloping a mare.

Full tilt they came into our view,
There wasn’t much that I could do:
The track was narrow so I dropped
One wheel into a ditch and stopped.

The rider had no chance to alter
Course or speed, or use the halter.
All she could do was hang on tight,
And charge on past us to our right.

It was a very close affair,
There almost wasn’t room through there.
They nearly crashed into the front,
And we’d have taken all the brunt.

The rider would have been thrown clear,
The horse though would have been, oh dear...
Dead I suspect, lying beside
The car with us all squashed inside.

So please, remember that the shoe
That fits us sometimes fits you too.
It isn’t always cars at fault:
A charging horse is hard to halt!

© Stephen Saunders

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