T.G.I.F. 11/29/19

[busker]

Black, White, and Red


A zebra can’t be ridden, for
a zebra can’t be broken.  It
will fight a rider to its death
hence sub-Saharan Africa
possessed no cavalry.

Just so, Jamestown planters found
they never could enslave
their native Indians, for those
would pine away and die before
becoming useful hands.

Eurasian horses, saddle-broken,
and black men of Africa,
enslaved, were living tools until
such ease accrued from ownership
that conscience dawned.

Now horses run for pleasure and
wild zebras roam protected veldts
while black men test their liberty
still fearing for its permanence
but Indians still pine.

Late, rough, and a superfluity of lines... but the poem about marmosets didn't work out.

Interesting. However, selective breeding for desirable traits should lend any animal to domestication, more so pack animals, and non-predators (trial and error with a lion doesn't really appeal to most people). The question of why the zebra wasn't domesticated remains.

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Eurasian horses can also be seen as the Irish, the Scots, and the working poor of Europe more generally. Nice.