In between

In the black and white
of an old photograph
an unsaddled
pale gray horse
stands obliquely
against rich darkness
at the open door
of a long-weathered log barn
front hoof raised
to step through to
promised disappearance
in the shadowy interior
head turned,
one long-lashed sleepy eye
looking back over
his shoulder
at me, where I stand
out of the picture
behind the frame
of a splitrail fence.

Clues in light and texture
and a muddy dampness
in a bit of foreground
suggests that the day
may have been
equivocally early spring,
the sky of a hazed
and featureless
cloudy-brightness.

I no longer remember
whether,
after my camera
caught that moment
of uncertain balance
right at
the point
of in-between
he continued
forward and
disappeared
or circled back
and remained
in open light.

For me, he stays
forever poised
just at the edgy line
dividing two states
uncertain, deciding.