| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (18331908). An American Anthology, 17871900. 1900. |
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| 1422. The Wild Ride |
| | | By Louise Imogen Guiney |
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| I HEAR in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses, | |
| All day, on the road, the hoofs of invisible horses; | |
| All night, from their stalls, the importunate tramping and neighing. | |
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| Let cowards and laggards fall back! but alert to the saddle, | |
| Straight, grim, and abreast, go the weatherworn, galloping legion, | 5 |
| With a stirrup-cup each to the lily of women that loves him. | |
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| The trail is through dolor and dread, over crags and morasses; | |
| There are shapes by the way, there are things that appeal or entice us: | |
| What odds? We are knights, and our souls are but bent on the riding. | |
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| I hear in my heart, I hear in its ominous pulses, | 10 |
| All day, on the road, the hoofs of invisible horses; | |
| All night, from their stalls, the importunate tramping and neighing. | |
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| We spur to a land of no name, out-racing the storm-wind; | |
| We leap to the infinite dark, like the sparks from the anvil. | |
| Thou leadest, O God! All s well with Thy troopers that follow. | 15 |
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