you once told me

on the weekends

you’d rent a horse

and ride along the river

up onto the plateau

that overlooked this town 

making first tracks

in the thin September snow

I imagine the quiet

the wind on your face

the trance of the trot

the openness

that was still there

when you were young

but not for me now

for there are so many fences

in this stretch

of plains grass and granite now

and the horses are gone

they bulldozed

that old ranch

put up new homes

and a bridge

over the creek

and the horses

are gone

and it doesn’t snow

in September anymore

it barely snows at all

I wonder though

about those mornings in the cold

did you think you’d be

the last to ever do it

did you imagine yourself

as the last reach

of 100,000 years

of human history

the last of the people

riding out alone

because the horses are gone

so much else is too

like they were never here at all

what I wouldn’t give

to ride out into the vastness

Alexander Shalom Joseph is an award-winning poet, writer and playwright from Gilpin County, and is the author of seven published books. You can find his work and more information about him at www.alexandershalomjoseph.com.