The Poetry of Ellin Anderson

THE LEAP

Ellin Anderson
 

All eyes are on the jumper as he sails
Across each hurdle. Chestnut velveteen
Ripples like brandy. One thin shadow veils
The whitewashed posts, October's velvet green,

As, wed to one volition, horse and girl
Swing, in a web of looks and voices, rise
And plunge, and rise again. His forelegs curl
Beneath his chest. "Superb!" a woman cries.

And then: "Not quite!" His stumble, and her fall.
I hear a thud — the coda for this ride.
A little faint, I lean against the wall;
The clucking crowd has scuttled to her side:

"Not quite — not quite!" That final, thwarted leap,
And then the thud. I hear it in my sleep.
 

© 2009 by Ellin Anderson. All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be copied or used in any way
without written permission from the author.


St. Patrick's Day
Seabrook
Tiger and Blue Jewel

Winter's Hill
Maple-Key Song
November in Camelot

Wassail Song
Veleda
Cinderella
The Rooster at Midsummer
Liberty Enlightens the People

The Goldfinch
Three Bears
Song of the Lily
White Tree at Twilight
The Christmas Tree

Song-Sparrow
Grand Bois du Nord
The Owl
Moth Summer
Verticordia
The Little God of Joy
Pear-Petals
Photographing the Moon
A Rabbit
Rose, Do You Know
The Two Pining Bachelors
Lorelei
Persephone

Avalon
The Harvest Chorus
The Maple Mask
Ghost Cardinal

The Little Heath-Rose
Found
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Song for the Harp

The Spinner
 
The Prayer of Cephalus
Circe and Ulysses
The Black Arts
Tristan and Isolde & Jupiter's Two Casks
Nectanebus

Home Page

More Poems by Ellin Anderson

The Little Mermaid
Vermeer
Anne's Hearth