searching...
looking...
hunting...
trying...
to find a special horse, a horse who is elusive and yet, I know him...I can see him in my mind clearly but for some reason, I find it difficult to use just the right word to identify him, to define him, to give him flesh and bone, so that everyone can see him too. For Carl Raswan, this horse was an ancient Greek horse and this description, his words, are the ones he used to describe the horse he saw in his mind, overflowing with that special quality, "the something" which led him out of Egypt and into the desert to look for it.
"All my dreams came back to me, more real and more compelling than ever, and I said to Charlotte, 'Some day I must know these people of the desert. I must find the beautiful ancestral horse of the frieze on the Parthenon. But my quest may be for a mythical horse which no longer exists."-Carl Raswan from his book, Drinkers of the Wind
Carl Raswan...there is so much written about the man. It seems like almost everyone has an opinion of a man they never met. And in the case of Carl Raswan, much of what is said about Raswan concerns the many words that he used to describe the elusive something that he spent his whole life searching for. I understand him because I have difficulty finding the perfect words to describe something that I also yearn for deeply...the authentic Arabian horse. Not only do I find it challenging to use the right words to describe my perfect horse; my perfect horse is constantly evolving and changing. I may have described this ideal horse very differently yesterday, as I will describe him to you tomorrow. Give me a moment and I will change my mind. And, I will contradict myself tomorrow, as compared to what I told you today. Such is the way with words and feelings...they never remain the same because as a person, I am not the same. I am different today, as I will be one month, six months, one year from now. Why do we have difficulty accepting the same for Carl Raswan? Was he any different from me? From you?
So, this summer, I will set out on a journey to find the real Carl Raswan. As difficult as the ideal horse is to describe; it is just as hard to hunt down the real voice of Carl Raswan, his heart, his spirit and passion, in the hope that I too, can find my own private Ghazal and Wudiyeh.
"But there was something about this emaciated little chestnut stallion that fascinated me, though he was not much to look at and certainly had not been groomed for ages past. He had four white feet, and a white star on his forehead--a head bold and angular as jagged rock. And his enormous eyes were like those of a gazelle." -Carl Raswan, from his book, Drinkers of the WindI am getting closer, hot on the heels of this special man who was looking for the same horse that I have been searching for. Not only do I look forward to finding the man but also coming face-to-face with that magical horse, who possesses every bit of that special something that I have been dreaming about.
EnJOY the happy summer,
Ralph
PS Opening photo was taken by cell phone as I walked on the Cushetunk Trail, Round Valley State Park, Lebanon, NJ
1 comment:
I understand your quest Ralph. I think to get closer to finding Carl Raswan you must first start by looking in the mirror. I think you share with Raswan a long life of passion for the Arabian horse that was first ignited by the horse itself. In our fueled curiosity we discover people like Carl Raswan whose writings became a catalyst for our own journeys.
Having seen some of Raswan's private correspondence I came to realize that it is not so much about the messenger as it is about the message. His passion for the Arabian horse included its message, its gift to mankind, and it seems that is what he most wanted people to remember in their journey. So he, like you and me, and many others have been given journeys created by the Arabian horse and I think ultimately the one messenger to celebrate is the horse itself. And like Carl Raswan, you have done a magnificent job of it.
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