Settlement

The Forest

In the dream I am in a dark forest. The pines are very thin and very tall and very dense. The pines are as tall as mountains. It is night and the sky is dark but even if it were not night the forest would still be dark for it is a dark forest.

I am alone in the forest. The wind moves the tops of the trees. I am standing on a bed of pine needles and I am waiting for what is coming. 

In the distance, at the point of absolution, the trees are shaking. The trunks are bowing against the darkness and through the tunnel a horse is coming. I see him coming from a long ways out. As he comes he grows and grows until he is as giant as the giant trees. The horse is made of wood and has eight wooden legs that scramble and paw and splinter the ground. As he comes I see his teeth. They are huge and white and wrapped in steam. The horse’s eyes are white and for his breath it is smoke. 

Hanging amidst the wild legs I see a pair of long long reigns. Perhaps the horse was once tame. Perhaps the horse was once mine. 

Running between the crashing timber I take up the straps and row the leather around my arms. I wheel back. The bit catches in the horse’s mouth. The animal screams and the scream is terrible. 

I pull back and the horse bends toward the ground. One of his legs snaps off, then another. I pull harder and more legs fall away. The horse is becoming smaller. His head dips next to mine. Spittle and froth swing from his lips. He is breaking and he is shrinking. He is becoming real. 

By the time he is fourlegged and by the time he is rightsized he is no longer wooden. He is made of flesh and bone. 

I touch his face and I make him calm. His neck is rather long. I throw a leg over him and we ride out of the forest.