the bay mare lay in the fresh straw sides heaving neck wet with sweat muscles straining one push — two pale hooves appear — another — a pink nose — then chest, back, hips and legs slip onto the straw weak from pain and labor the mare raises her head toward her firstborn still linked by nature and something stirs within her something stored for centuries she calls to him and he still swimming in her waters hears surfaces to life and finds her eyes Reprinted with permission from Leaning into the Wind Copyright © 1997 by Linda Hasselstrom, Gaydell Collier, & Nancy Curtis Houghton Mifflin

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