This poem is from a collection by the author being prepared for publication with the working title, Stride for Stride. Wendell Hawken earned her MFA in Poetry at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC. Collections of her poems include, The Luck of Being, published by The Backwaters Press, Omaha (2008) and The Spinal Sequence by Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Kentucky (2013). Individual poems have appeared in literary magazines including Narrative, Shenandoah, Southern Poetry Review, and Poet Lore as well as in Foxhunting Life.Secular Prayer
May you keep an old hound in your kitchen
so you can watch her dream.
so you can watch her dream.
May you be the start dog of your dreams.
And press your foxes just enough that they run well.
And gift yourself the nerve to follow.
May you hunt wide, unwired country alive with game
on a horse as seasoned as yourself,
with manners better than your own.
on a horse as seasoned as yourself,
with manners better than your own.
May you ride with others who can ride,
who look for foxes and listen for the hounds.
who look for foxes and listen for the hounds.
Let your huntsman blow a sweet horn,
your master be one you choose to follow,
who knows more than you do,
rides as well as Kubla Khan, Annie Oakley,
the Scarlet Pimpernel.
your master be one you choose to follow,
who knows more than you do,
rides as well as Kubla Khan, Annie Oakley,
the Scarlet Pimpernel.
May your master study scent
and keep you up with hounds so you may ride
and keep you up with hounds so you may ride
stride for stride with hounds in sight,
the pack: a many-throated single creature,
a white-flecked oval, singing beast.
the pack: a many-throated single creature,
a white-flecked oval, singing beast.
Or stand and drop your stirrups to watch hounds
work a cold track warm enough to run.
work a cold track warm enough to run.
May you mark all your foxes healthy, safe,
accounted for, and gone to ground.
May you gift yourself a life with horses
and with hounds.
And may your children’s children ride.
accounted for, and gone to ground.
May you gift yourself a life with horses
and with hounds.
And may your children’s children ride.
Posted December 1, 2019