Two little horses
one the color of chestnuts,
and the other was as white as snow
saw a lifetime of change.

They saw an escape from their country
in order to achieve freedom,
the freedom that they so desperately desired.

A chance to run free
and feel their legs move ,
and no longer be stiff and unmovable.
They wanted to feel the wind,
breathe the air,
eat the lush green grass.
But they couldn't,
for they were only figurines.

They sat above a fireplace
in foreign lands
during a time of war.
They saw the bombings that broke their legs
and their hearts.
But they were glued back together constantly,
by the love of a girl.

She was only sixteen,
just reaching her prime,
but sounds of gunshots filled the air,
and riddled her with strife.
Her only happiness were the two horses,
and if those were broken,
she would be too.

She clung to them for many years,
too many to count,
and now the little girl is old.
Her hair was no longer blonde
but it was now the color of ash,
her skin lost it's healthy hue
and was replaced with the pale whiteness of the moon.

The two horses watched her grow up,
they played with her
they made her feel safe
and in return she loved them.
She made them feel as if they were alive.
But the sand in the hourglass was always falling
and nothing was changing that.

The horses watched the old woman,
the war no longer troubled her,
it was the illness that controlled her humble life.
Sickness overtakes
the ones who savored every moment.
Disease pities no one,
it just destroys the good.

She has numbered days,
and only God knows when it is time.
But we're all left waiting,
unsure of when the clock will strike the hour of death.
Uncertain of when the hour glass runs out.
The little pieces of sand seem to fall faster
and the clock is so loud.

The two horses can't bear to see it.
She loved them,
and she's fading,
and they are left behind.
If they broke,
then she suffered.
But if she disappears,
then the horses will fade away as well.

The two little figurines sat above the fireplace,
staring at an empty house.
She had left them with only a few words.
"You'll love her, and she'll love you. Just like I did."
and she walked out the door and closed it behind her,
for the last time.

The two horses waited
but she never returned.
The door opened one day,
and the horses were excited,
as the light from the outside world
illuminated the rooms.
Bringing a sense of hope to their dismal existence.
But it wasn't her.

Some other woman came and scooped up the horses.
They were shocked.
They were leaving their home,
they were waiting for the old woman to come back,
but she wasn't,
and they were forced to leave.

Jostled around in a small box,
they feared where they were going.
She left them alone,
and she won't come back for them.
They felt betrayed,
forgotten,
unloved.

The box opened and the light shown through again.
But it did not bring the same hope,
their hope was crushed by the blinding light.
The two horses were taken out,
and placed into the hands
of a seventeen year old girl.

She was gentle and careful,
she held the horses lovingly,
and regarded them with respect.
She murmured to them as she walked up the stairs
and she placed them on their own special shelf.

She whispered to them lovingly,
"I'll do my best to care for you two and love you two,
as much as my Grandmother did.
I promise."

Then the two horses hoped,
that maybe their hearts would be glued back together,
with the new love,
that was the same
as the little girl that they first knew.