The Foal

by Thomas R. Smith 
  
Passing close
by the November field,
our car has startled

the little foal
from beside its
kneeling mother—

away it bounds,
like a rocking-
horse come to life,

its blood young
and combustible
in a cooling world.


© 2007 by Thomas R. Smith. All rights reserved.
Thomas R. Smith lives in River Falls, Wisconsin, and teaches at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. His most recent poetry collection is Waking Before Dawn (Red Dragonfly Press, 2007).