Well folks, I’ve had my day.🐴

My equine companion evokes many memories as he stands alone in the mid-day October sun, definitely not throwing his hat in the air as my dear Mom might say. I am catapulted back to the sunny long ago, listening with joy as my youngest sister, Josephine, recites the poem  ‘The old brown horse’. She would say every time, ‘Well, folks, Ivy (I’ve) had my day’ and we would laugh and say ‘Whoever Ivy is’. Pure fun in our childhood time of sublime innocence. 

On our farm, we had an old brown horse called Paddy, rendering the magical poem all the more relevant and real to us. How fortunate we were to be children in that time of pure simplicity. No internet, no noise - except for our own commotion and cares. Hard to believe that such a time ever came to pass......Many fond memories sneak up on me when I least expect them, warming my heart and soul, comforting and consoling in this concerning Corona time.

‘The old brown horse looks over the fence in a weary sort of way. He seems to be saying to all who pass: “Well folks, I’ve had my day.

I’m simply watching the world go by, and nobody seems to mind. As they’re dashing past in their motor cars, a horse who is lame and half blind”.

The old brown horse has a shaggy coat, but once he was young and trim, and he used to trot through the woods and lanes, with the man who was fond of him.

But his master rides in a motor car and it makes him feel quite sad, when he thinks of the days that used to be, and of all the times they had.

Sometimes a friendly soul will stop, near the fence where the tired old head, rests wearily on the topmost bar, and a friendly word is said.

Then the old brown horse gives a little sigh as he feels the kindly touch, of a hand on his mane or his shaggy coat, and he doesn’t mind so much.

So if you pass by the field one day, just stop for a word or two, with the old brown horse who was once as young and as full of life as you.

He’ll love the touch of your soft young hand, and I know he’ll seem to say, “Oh, thank you, friend, for the kindly thought for a horse who has had his day”. (W.F. Holmes/1809-1894)