When I'm working too hard or too fast, I imagine holding horse reins
Heidi Sands
4/11/25
(C)opyright
The dog days of summer, certainly here
Every half-hour, another shot of beer
Too lazy to move
I’m stuck in a groove
Glad my new car doesn’t need me to steer
Once when I was a child
My reins were held by my parents
This pony once led by their rants
Now that my mustang is old
My reins still slip from my grasp
I go where this beast goes
Divorced from my old mare
I am no longer noosed
Years of service make it wary
When my child returns at half-time
He takes my reins playfully
Taming my mustang without a whine
When he dismounts for her
I lose sight of my destination
Someday, I'll bridle without a bother
Then I won’t be ridden by my beast
The saddle will find its place
Someday my racing heart will cease
Together we’ll limp to the finish line
Our eyes on the journey before us
Not fixing my gaze side to side
This bronco will find its stride
Confident in my equestrian skills
I’ll cross the line in an easy ride
Then no longer reign or be reined
Ready for the glue factory in style
As Jesus cries he is finished
Handing over the reins is, of course,
Very rarely involving a horse.
It’s about the tradition
Of easing transition
Of power, with no show of force.
The expression is mostly applied
When a leader is stepping aside
And helps he who comes next
Not feel lacking or vexed
With all negative feelings denied.
Yet today, those same reins are held tight,
While the whole world is watching this plight.
It’s an ugly impasse
Lacking candor and class
Led by one who is driven by spite.
You stare into the abyss,
And the abyss stares back.
Take a look into my mind,
Through every little crack.
It's dripping from my finger tips,
It's throbbing in my veins.
The wild inside my bones,
Won't stay tied up in your reins.
If I let my poison pour,
Let it gush out of my throat,
I'll flood out your pretty kingdom,
And set myself afloat.
- Pragya Nandi @scarletfruit2004
The seasons changed from frigid to thaw.
Deep in my heart my Jesus saw.
A need to find someone to love.
So he plucked an angel from above.
A day or two before rebirth.
He brought her down to me on earth.
We both looked lost in such a daze.
Still trying to understand God's ways.
The season's changed from cool to cold.
Things got said, shouldn't have been told.
Secret's in places where thoughts can live.
Leak'd out and now I need you to forgive.
April reins are still held taught.
A love like this can't be forgot.
But broken hearts and wounded souls.
Are left to pay lover's lane tolls.
From here nobody knows the way.
We're both just wondering what to say.
How to mend these broken fences.
And to get past each others defences.
We're left to leave it all to Jesus.
Hope and trust that the pain ceases.
Because I've never known a truer love.
Because I've never known a truer love.
Will the stars ever align the way they did that day?
When all the heavens opened up to let you come my way.
Where magic spells are cast into the hearts of only two.
And shine a light of golden hue beyond all others view.
A world of lost and lonely space is all that there is left.
To wonder in alone again with my heart so bereft.
I don't know how to go on now that I am without you.
And find a reason to exist after the storm came through.
I look for answers from your friends that don't want me around.
Since you won't see me anymore, I'm in the lost and found.
But mismatched mittens, gloves and socks just end up in the street.
Where broken souls with worn out holes no longer ever meet.
I guess I'm back to where I was when I got on my knees.
And prayed that prayer to you dear Lord asking only please.
To be with me and see inside where I hide all my pains.
I give them back to you dear Jesus, I've let loose of these reins.
When the reins of fate go slack
And the wicked wind is at your back
And you lift your head and smell the dew
And there's no one near to trouble you
When your eyes are wide
And you're ready to ride
Like a pony in the spring
Like a falcon on the wing
To follow your heart
To make that new start
When you've doubled your dues
When you got nothing to lose
That's when you know
Your life has begun
That's when it's time
To make your best run
His Father on High Reins
God said I am that I am and always am
Like loud roaring lion or a little lamb
Enduring elephant who is big and tall
And an ant so small and great waterfall.
Rainbows, stars and mountains real high
Bright fireworks flying on Fourth of July
Writers of poems with their each pen
Lovely eggs at Easter laid by a hen.
Soldiers ensuring we are safe, sane and secure
Forever all our errors He is able to endure
Helps us when lost and in circles will wander
Yet still knows all never having to ponder.
Better then I ever will be and always excelling
Answers Bible questions in form of story telling
Put up with stupid sinning and sent us His Son
To relieve all from pain for sins we have done.
Again Lord and Savior to us will come back
To compensate for all the things that we lack
By destroying entire world and sin it contains
Bring us back to where His Father on high reins.
James Thomas Horn, Retired Veteran and Poet
We all have certain moments
That define the paths we’ll take
To spur us into action,
Even just for ego’s sake.
The realization that this life,
The only one we’ll know,
Has other options will decide
Which way we choose to go.
We don’t have many years to live
And we must make the choice
That resonates within our soul,
In no one else’s voice.
A sacrifice for someone else,
Though given from the heart,
May take the self that we have formed
And rip it all apart.
There isn’t time to dawdle
Or procrastinate a change,
Though when the reins are in our hands,
It’s bound to feel real strange.
Hunger holds the reins, stimulating or stifling,
driving the plant to bend to the sun and root deep,
herding the roe deer toward unsafe pasturing;
hunger holds the reins.
An emptiness of desire unfed, ends fitful sleep
as moon-tossed men pull threads of sanity, hiding,
from deep within a memory of fullness creeps;
hunger holds the reins.
Mouths and stomachs, hearts and souls, all need minding.
Un-sated, they distort, deform, in rampant leaps,
so feed your needs in earnest or you'll be finding,
hunger holds the reins.
Power,
Just seize the reins,
Impose your agenda,
Tighten your grip on the masses,
Control.
The Reins of Reluctance
Stashed somewhere in the shadows
Of true love and pure romance
He hides his heart and hungers
For the strength to take a chance
He hopes hard for a reason
Tries to find the circumstance
So he can finally tell her
How she has him in a trance
But fear of her rejection
Always hinders his advance
So she only sees him smiling
As he settles for a glance
Which fuels his desire
With the emotional finance
That will keep the battle going
With inhibitions and I can’ts
If fear is all there is to fear
And the virtue is patience
He will always bear the burden
Of his reins of reluctance
By: Jeremy Siedlecki
Valkyrie wings
kiss the air
as my Heroin
takes leave
of this dismal
and sulfuric atmosphere.
Once again
she has pulled me
to the surface
(the place I dread)
promising me
"I don't know"
as always,
leaving my brain in Limbo
(once again)
and my body
to wander my realm
happenstancely.
But as a frenzy
of emotions
rush in to fill
my emptiness of thought,
raging like
a storm ridden ocean
crashing against
jagged towering cliffs,
I take hold
of the reins
and head
into the thick of it all,
where my castle once stood.
It's time to rebuild
and nothing's going to stop me.