***soot and iron***

she dances with horses  
as she draws her brush across the page -  
thick black strokes and delicate lines  
gallop and whinny their way over hot-pressed cotton,  
muscles stretching with the fiber,  
hooves beating on ink-stained dirt,  
every movement brimming with power and grace,  
responding to the gentlest touch.

sometimes i think she doesn't know the magic she creates.

after so many hours spent studying   
the alchemy of pigments  
and searching for the essence of equine nature,  
she meditates to the sound of brush on paper  
and lets go,  
her spirit dancing in soot and iron across the page.

(© 2012 Cassander)