Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A POET'S APPEAL FOR THE NATURAL: 4. THE HORSE, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON First Line: For native rhythm, and poetry Last Line: Across the trembling firmament. Subject(s): Animals; Horses; Native Americans - History; Poetry & Poets; West (u.s.); Southwest; Pacific States | ||||||||
For native rhythm, and poetry Of motion, there's nothing like the horse. Think not of proper, prosy nag That shambles down the city street, With all the equus fire burnt out! Give me the Texan of the plains The long, lithe, red-nostriled kind, With eyes white-framed, and bearded chin With wind like tireless hurricane The untamed Spirit of the West, With heart half devil and half man, That keeps you hopping when you mount, And gallops wolf-like with the wind. Ah, this is poetry itself The rhythmic thrill and throb of life, No chuggy-chug of mere machine! This is old Pégasus himself, And more, for oft methinks that all The muses of the mystic Nine Became incarnate in the horse. Far better this for poet heart Than all the coin-cast plays, With artificial stage, and mob Of money-mad and pleasure-crazed. Let me gallop on and on, into The mystic table-land of Night, Where fade from sight all marks of man. And now I walk my horse and gaze Into the starry pasture lands That hang o'erheadand hark! I hear Above the tinkle of my spurs The frozen echoes of the clang Of steel, as in the icy still The Great Bear drags his clinking chain Across the trembling firmament. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WESTERN WAGONS by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET DRIVING WEST IN 1970 by ROBERT BLY IN THE HELLGATE WIND by MADELINE DEFREES A PERIOD PORTRAIT OF SYMPATHY by EDWARD DORN ASSORTED COMPLIMENTS by EDWARD DORN AT THE COWBOY PANEL by EDWARD DORN A HUSTLE FOR THE FAIR by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON |
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