Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WILD RIDE, by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WILD RIDE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses
Last Line: Thou leadest, o god! All's well with thy troopers that follow!
Subject(s): Friendship; Hearts; Knights & Knighthood; Life


I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses,
All day, the commotion of sinewy, mane-tossing horses;
All night, from their cells, the importunate tramping and neighing.
Cowards and laggards fall back; but alert to the saddle,
Straight, grim, and abreast, vault our weather-worn, galloping legion,
With stirrup-cup each to the one gracious woman that loves him.
The road is through dolor and dread, over crags and morasses;
There are shapes by the way, there are things that appall or entice us
What odds? We are knights, and our souls are but bent on the riding!
Thought's self is a vanishing wing, and joy is a cobweb,
And friendship a flower in the dust, and glory a sunbeam:
Not here is our prize, nor, alas! after these our pursuing.
A dipping of plumes, a tear, a shake of the bridle,
A passing salute to this world, and her pitiful beauty!
We hurry with never a word in the track of our fathers.
I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses,
All day, the commotion of sinewy, mane-tossing horses,
All night, from their cells, the importunate tramping and neighing.
We spur to a land of no name, outracing the stormwind;
We leap to the infinite dark, like the sparks from the anvil.
Thou leadest, O God! All's well with Thy troopers that follow!




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