whiskey ponies

whiskey ponies,
shaggy little ones
with flared hooves and sharp eyes.

stamping their feet, and sniffing
the fermented gold on their backs.

cross with their ears laid flat,
they are impatient to trot paths
smoothed by their errand every week.

the lesser known brothers of those equine
heroes, the runners of the Pony Express.

but these were ponies with stories rarely
told, with coats never brushed.
Joseph, Nicholas, and Bartholamew.

These ponies had soul and hot whiskey
to wind over the mountains.