THE starlings fly in the windy sky, The rabbits run out a-row, The pheasants stalk in the stubble dry, As I tramp in the evenglow, -- As I tramp, tramp, tramp, and grow More weary at every stride, And think, as the riders pass and go -- If I had a horse to ride! The Farmer trots by on his roadster high, The Squire on his pony low; Young Miss sweeps out from the Park-Gate nigh, And canters away with her beau: -- They are proud of themselves, I trow, But couldn't I too show pride? And couldn't I too cut a dash and show, If I had a horse to ride? The Farmer is four times as fat as I, The Squire he is blind and slow; Young Miss has not nearly so bright an eye As Bess at the 'Barley Mow'; -- Ah, wouldn't I cry 'Gee-hup, Gee-ho,' And wouldn't I bang his side, And wouldn't I teach him to gallop it though, If I had a horse to ride! ENVOY. It was only a Beggar that grumbled so, As his blistered feet he eyed; But the cry is a cry that we all of us know -- If I had a horse to ride! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A DEAD MAN by CARL SANDBURG THE BALLAD WHICH ANNE ASKEW MADE AND SANG WHEN SHE WAS IN NEWGATE by ANNE ASKEWE ODE FOR MEMORIAL DAY by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR AN UNTIMELY THOUGHT by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH WHO SEEKS THE KING by LARENE KING BLEECKER THE ROMAUNT OF MARGRET by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |