Hillbilly Farms Poetry

The Pace Was Too Good To Inquire

by Jiggeragin

I enter at A and flash back to age three,
Back then the test did require,
"Proceed at a gallop, then track left", you see.
Oh, was I meant to circle back there at B?
The pace was too good to inquire.

I canter past C, there's a Jack-in-the-Box,
Flight to A becomes my desire.
I careen around as if chasing a fox,
Can they see more than the blur of my white socks?
The pace was too good to inquire.

I start to slow down, something catches my eye,
Now is no time to retire.
R, B, P, F, A, K, the letters fly by,
Do they spell out a word that rhymes with 'eye'?
The pace was too good to inquire.

They said to allow five minutes for my test,
Two minutes in, nearing the wire.
I ignore the bit's plea for me to rest,
Will my performance be a personal best?
The pace was too good to inquire.


Jigger was inspired to write his poem by the following poem, from "Poems in pink" by W. Phillpotts Williams, published in 1894.

THE PACE WAS TOO GOOD TO INQUIRE.

How quickly we found ! I can see him to-day,
The fox that was bred by the squire.
"Oh! who is the stranger who viewed him away?"
They asked, as he handled his blood-looking bay.
"The pace was too good to inquire."

He seemed, as I fancied, to rise to the sky
At the gate by the side of the wire.
I asked if he thought it exceptionally high,
Though he turned in his saddle, there came in reply,
"The pace was too good to inquire."

He pounded us all; though we rode with a will,
Our bruisers were forced to retire;
Away for the brook, and away for the hill,
Where, where, was the crowd that we met by the mill?
"The pace was too good to inquire."

The parson's new hat floated down on the stream,
The brim was all covered with mire;
His riderless horse was all lather and steam.
No question was asked at the time—it would seem
"The pace was too good to inquire."

The sportsman from town, with his marvellous horse,
Who told us last night by the fire,
He'd show us the way as a matter of course.
O! why were his words never put into force?
"The pace was too good to inquire."

"Who-whoop" at the finish, each hound in his place,
What more could a sportsman require?
The huntsman replied, with a smile on his face,
When asked for the time of this wonderful race,
"The pace was too good to inquire."

The pluck that has made us is with us to-day,
The spirit that fills us with fire,
In facing the foe let all Englishmen say
When signals of danger are placed in the way,
"The pace is too good to inquire."