A Painted, Quilted Pony

If you check out the web site for “Old Salem,” a restored Moravian village in Winston-Salem,NC, you will read one sentence that will beckon you to visit.  “Come and discover something new about our past and that will intrigue you about our future.”  Old Salem calls you back to simpler times.  That’s intriguing.  And one particular time in the store window of one of its shops my eye caught a hand-make pony, fashioned from an antique quilt.  Before I would paint it in its simplicity I wrote a poem that describes the something new I learned from time past, when life was simpler.  

A painted, quilted pony has much to say
To hearts unafraid to make their way
Back into much simpler times
When childhood eyes could often find
Playful creatures in whispy clouds
Trees turned warriors standing proud
Where stories opened windows to another place
How easy it was then to see Gods face... But now, quilted pony, are you useless to me
I’ve more important things to do and to see
Than to give precious time to dreams and play
There’s jobs to finish and bills to pay
Though I’d long to be carefree, a child once again
There’s mountains to climb, and fences to mend
O painted, quilted pony, what do you recommend... 
Be converted my soul, be a child amongst men.

painted, quilted pony has much to say
To hearts unafraid to make their way
Back into much simpler times
When childhood eyes could often find
Playful creatures in whispy clouds
Trees turned warriors standing proud
Where stories opened windows to another place
How easy it was then to see Gods face... But now, quilted pony, are you useless to me
I’ve more important things to do and to see
Than to give precious time to dreams and play
There’s jobs to finish and bills to pay
Though I’d long to be carefree, a child once again
There’s mountains to climb, and fences to mend
O painted, quilted pony, what do you recommend... 
Be converted my soul, be a child amongst men. ––– Ken Helser