Classic Poem

Sleek-limbed, glossy, rippling hide,
Where those supple muscles slide,
Rhythmic shock on shock, in time
To the hoof-beats' clicking rhyme:

Strength like fine elastic steel,
Nerved so taut that head and heel
Shift together in swift response
To the veriest feather, once
Let a finger's grip come light
On these lines, drawn tight.

Bitted—bridled. … Can no fire
Light your limbs with quick desire,
Flicker down that silken skin,
Shake in tawny flames the mane,
Like a wild horse long ago
Shook it in the blinding snow,
Shook it at the burning sun,
Screamed and splashed where rivers run!

Kick the silly shafts apart:
Tinderwood and flimsy cart
Shattered, for a soul ablaze
With the whinnying prairie days!

Untamed, radiant, proud and high—
Thunderous hoofs, a blue-bright sky,
Billowed grass, and fleeing wind
Miles before you and behind. …