Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OF HORSES, by GORDON BOTTOMLEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OF HORSES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hold power between thy knees; yea, string
Last Line: Loose tender mouth would make thee dumbly man's.
Subject(s): Animals; Horses


HOLD power between thy knees; yea, string thy wrists
To govern surges with a bitted thong:
These can transfer thy will and leave thee strong
As if thy hips continued his who twists.

If thou wert made another way about,
Power in thy forearms that must yet grow down,
Wouldst thou not stretch them thoughtlessly, unshewn,
Discovering leaps and gallopings thereout --

Never bewildered by four sounds beneath,
Nor thought that two must mean another nigh?
(Thus man is shaped to lift his arms on high
And tends to adoration as to breathe.)

Wouldst think that resting has no need to cower,
And, stayed on four dewed legs, slumber upright
Like a hoar Druid thing made huge by night.
When thou wouldst fight, then couldst thou rear and tower.

Thou wouldst not fear, though hid and even pied,
The colour of thy children when unborn;
Thy strong accepting heart would judge man's scorn --
Who loves strange hair but spurns a darker hide.

Yet wert thou thus a horse thy sideways glance
Would see man large and unfamiliar;
Eyes' covert nature wary and aware,
Loose tender mouth would make thee dumbly man's.





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