Rust

“Horseshoes at the Ranch” by Chris Moseley is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 .

The horseshoe, suspended from a bent nail,
is upside down,
all the luck draining away.
It is scabrous with age, psoriatic –
its mute flakes of metal slack
powdering in a pile below.

I notice only its rust,
the slow, painless erosion
of cold, hard brightness –
oxidising with light,
the earth beneath it breathing better.

It is becoming, not decaying;
it is root and blood,
staining the earth with tears and sweat.

The flowers around it
throb in ultraviolet brilliance,
suckling on its iron and growing fat