Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
The Wild Ride
By Louise Imogen Guiney (18611920)I
All day, the commotion of sinewy, mane-tossing horses;
All night, from their cells, the importunate tramping and neighing.
Straight, grim, and abreast, vault our weather-worn, galloping legion,
With a stirrup-cup each to the one gracious woman that loves him.
There are shapes by the way, there are things that appal or entice us:
What odds? We are knights, and our souls are but bent on the riding!
All day, the commotion of sinewy, mane-tossing horses;
All night, from their cells, the importunate trumping and neighing.
We leap to the infinite dark, like the sparks from the anvil.
Thou leadest, O God! All’s well with Thy troopers that follow.