Last week I sent an email to a friend and former client who works in New York City. I asked Richard for his permission to post one of his poems.
When I was working at Churchill Downs, Richard was one of my clients who purchased tickets to the Kentucky Derby. Now he's a racehorse owner in his own right, and doing very well.
Little did I know what this past weekend would bring. My Mom and I were set to attend the Kentucky Derby, and those plans were changed at the last minute. I'm glad we did not go this year as the brave filly, Eight Belles, raced the last time in her young life.
Many heroes die young on this Earth.
For some reason, the poem by John Donne, "For Whom the Bell Tolls", came to my mind today. In Donne's poem, which was taken from a passage in his 1624 Meditation 17, from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, he writes "no man is an island entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent.... each man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind."
Life here on Earth is about change -- death and rebirth, chaos and peace. Eight Belles' passing is sad, and she is missed. I send her and all her connections peace and love.
In honor of Eight Belles, here is Richard Ciarletta's "Bridled Glory". It seems a very fitting tribute, indeed.
"Bridled Glory"
O' what gift we have received that only God could have perceived.
Atop a power which lives through time:
Behind a flaming mane that yearns to fly,
And rippled legs that churn on High.
Do we know the power which we have harnessed.
Does it know, itself, the legend it possesses??
Of these I am not sure, though I am certain
That we have been given a gift from Heaven.
Richard Ciarletta
