Frederick George Cotman, British
Fun Fact: In the Mid-19 Century, It Wasn’t Unusual To Have a Family of Horses Living Next Door. Thus the Term “Neighbor,” 1880
Oil on canvas
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Info, or links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here, here (archived if necessary), here, here, here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), here, and here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page.
/// That white horse seems to think he is One
of the Family (just like a son).
Their dog futilely begs,
then he nips Mama’s legs.
Dobbin gets all the scraps. Fido? None.
/// It’s true Fido would rather have meat,
but there are other things he can eat.
Apples. Carrots, of course,
(which they feed to the horse),
hungry dogs would consider a treat.
/// The horse begs them for food in this way
‘cause he hasn’t been fed the whole day.
When the field’s being ploughed
eating oats’ not allowed,
and the feedbag is filled with stale hay.
/// Widowed Granny was cutting some bread,
but the knife slipped and cut her instead.
So profusely she bled,
the loaf turned a bright red.
(But this happens a lot— she’s not dead.)
/// Little sister with Mom is competing,
calling out to the horsey, in greeting:
“I’ve got food in my palm;
come to me, not to Mom.”
Her two brothers think only of eating.
/// People scoff when I tell them this yarn.
(Others simply just don’t give a darn.)
I can hear Papa say
like it was yesterday,
“Shut that door— was yer raised in a barn?”
/// “Were you raised in a barn?” Dad would roar,
when he saw I’d left open a door.
Yet I also was mocked
that the barn door got locked
after horses were gone, not before.
/// Now, I know what he meant in my gut,
yet my head keeps on asking me: “But…
which decision gets praised
when you’re, in a barn, raised?
Should the barn door be open or shut?”