The horse that kicked me nearly into Death
and into one-sided deafness probably did not care.
These things happen and a reasonable man
takes them as they come. I decorated
our house at Christmas: reindeer clipped from tin
and the paper wrote them up, “Bigger than life-size!”
From that and winning gardening shows I worked
for years as Superintendent, City Parks.
This added pleasure and years of working outside
to my life, already fine from pretty Julia’s love.
I never thought it helped to kick a lot.