Page 15 - HEF Pen & Ink 2020

REFLECTION
by Chase Tielking
UNTITLED
by Jasper Cook
I ASKED GOD TO KILL MY PONY
by Melody Perry
It started in my second year,
I told myself I wouldn’t shed a tear.
Something inside was wrong, all she wanted to do was breathe.
I had to stay by her side, I could never leave.
Though her skin grew sallow,
She made no friends of sorrow.
She whinnied for her breakfast; she dumped her wa- ter bucket.
If you asked her for a favor, she’d have no opinion of it.
But in the end, her sickness became fatal.
She hung her head when you said her name, she be- came reclused in her stable.
It was the move that did her in, the trailer rattled plenty.
When we found her on her side, I had tears for twen- ty.
She wouldn’t stand, wouldn’t blink, she barely made a sound.
They tried everything they could, until I was the only one around.
I told her to be brave, to stand on solid ground,
But she looked at me and said, from this there’s no rebound.
I prayed for her to stand, I prayed for her to breathe, I prayed for her to find some strength, if only just for me.
I prayed for God to take her, so I wouldn’t have to see.
We set a date, I brushed her early, so I could say goodbye.
When they arrived, I mumbled, I have something in my eye.
They took her by the woodshed, she was brave, I think, surely.
And they did what they had to do, because God wouldn’t kill my pony.
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