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by
Matsuo Basho
Fleas, lice
Fleas, lice,
a horse peeing
near my pillow.
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by
Kobayashi Issa
Hey, sparrow!
Hey, sparrow!
out of the way,
Horse is coming.
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by
David Herbert Lawrence
The White Horse
The youth walks up to the white horse, to put its halter on
and the horse looks at him in silence.
They are so silent, they are in another world.
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by
Robert Bly
Watering the Horse
How strange to think of giving up all ambition!
Suddenly I see with such clear eyes
The white flake of snow
That has just fallen in the horse's mane!
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by
John Masefield
An Epilogue
I had seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces,
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races,
Ao I trust, too.
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by
Walt Whitman
A Farm-Picture.
THROUGH the ample open door of the peaceful country barn,
A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding;
And haze, and vista, and the far horizon, fading away.
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by
William Butler Yeats
The Great Day
Hurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot!
A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot.
Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again!
The beggars have changed places, but the lash goes on.
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by
Emily Dickinson
Elijah's Wagon knew no thill
Elijah's Wagon knew no thill
Was innocent of Wheel
Elijah's horses as unique
As was his vehicle --
Elijah's journey to portray
Expire with him the skill
Who justified Elijah
In feats inscrutable --
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by
Richard Brautigan
The Fever Monument
I walked across the park to the fever monument.
It was in the center of a glass square surrounded
by red flowers and fountains. The monument
was in the shape of a sea horse and the plaque read
We got hot and died.
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by
Emily Dickinson
I know Suspense -- it steps so terse
I know Suspense -- it steps so terse
And turns so weak away --
Besides -- Suspense is neighborly
When I am riding by --
Is always at the Window
Though lately I descry
And mention to my Horses
The need is not of me --
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by
Robert Bly
After Long Busyness
I start out for a walk at last after weeks at the desk.
Moon gone plowing underfoot no stars; not a trace of light!
Suppose a horse were galloping toward me in this open field?
Every day I did not spend in solitude was wasted.
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by
Rg Gregory
stable society
the horses have bolted
the one door's been locked
the flood can't get out
the greasy bilge swills
up the walls to the roof
hercules is hopeless
the manger is mangy
fresh myths and sayings
are urgently wanted
mythmakers get busy
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by
Walt Whitman
What Place is Besieged?
WHAT place is besieged, and vainly tries to raise the siege?
Lo! I send to that place a commander, swift, brave, immortal;
And with him horse and foot—and parks of artillery,
And artillery-men, the deadliest that ever fired gun.
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by
Emily Dickinson
The Life that tied too tight escapes
The Life that tied too tight escapes
Will ever after run
With a prudential look behind
And spectres of the Rein --
The Horse that scents the living Grass
And sees the Pastures smile
Will be retaken with a shot
If he is caught at all --
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by
Emily Dickinson
Dropped into the Ether Acre --
Dropped into the Ether Acre --
Wearing the Sod Gown --
Bonnet of Everlasting Laces --
Brooch -- frozen on --
Horses of Blonde -- and Coach of Silver --
Baggage a strapped Pearl --
Journey of Down -- and Whip of Diamond --
Riding to meet the Earl --
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by
Rg Gregory
a koestler on the human brain
the man and the horse and the crocodile
lay down on the couch together
the man said
this isn't going to work
the horse neighed
i love you
the crocodile
slimy as ever
neither complained nor adored
idly
it snapped its jaws
and got on with the feast
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by
Walter de la Mare
The Huntsmen
Three jolly gentlemen,
In coats of red,
Rode their horses
Up to bed.
Three jolly gentlemen
Snored till morn,
Their horses champing
The golden corn.
Three jolly gentlemen
At break of day,
Came clitter-clatter down the stairs
And galloped away.
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by
Wang Wei
AT PARTING
I dismount from my horse and I offer you wine,
And I ask you where you are going and why.
And you answer: "I am discontent
And would rest at the foot of the southern mountain.
So give me leave and ask me no questions.
White clouds pass there without end."
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by
Carl Sandburg
Blue Ridge
BORN a million years ago you stay here a million years …
watching the women come and live and be laid away …
you and they thin-gray thin-dusk lovely.
So it goes: either the early morning lights are lovely or the early morning star.
I am glad I have seen racehorses, women, mountains.
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by
Barry Tebb
THE OLD STRAIGHT TRACK
Runs to no compass point
But starts within the human heart
Where travellers in twos may go
As for a while it winds beside
A man-made road then veers aside
We met at a cross-roads once and journeyed
Together for a while across a moor
And then on horseback sadly you waved adieu.
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by
Siegfried Sassoon
Nimrod in September
When half the drowsy world’s a-bed
And misty morning rises red,
With jollity of horn and lusty cheer,
Young Nimrod urges on his dwindling rout;
Along the yellowing coverts we can hear
His horse’s hoofs thud hither and about:
In mulberry coat he rides and makes
Huge clamour in the sultry brakes.
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by
Richard Wilbur
Parable
I read how Quixote in his random ride
Came to a crossing once, and lest he lose
The purity of chance, would not decide
Whither to fare, but wished his horse to choose.
For glory lay wherever turned the fable.
His head was light with pride, his horse's shoes
Were heavy, and he headed for the stable.
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by
Carl Sandburg
Whiffletree
GIVE me your anathema.
Speak new damnations on my head.
The evening mist in the hills is soft.
The boulders on the road say communion.
The farm dogs look out of their eyes and keep thoughts from the corn cribs.
Dirt of the reeling earth holds horseshoes.
The rings in the whiffletree count their secrets.
Come on, you.
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by
Amy Lowell
Sea Shell
Sea Shell, Sea Shell,
Sing me a song, O Please!
A song of ships, and sailor men,
And parrots, and tropical trees,
Of islands lost in the Spanish Main
Which no man ever may find again,
Of fishes and corals under the waves,
And seahorses stabled in great green caves.
Sea Shell, Sea Shell,
Sing of the things you know so well.
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by
Robert Bly
At Midocean
All day I loved you in a fever holding on to the tail of the horse.
I overflowed whenever I reached out to touch you.
My hand moved over your body covered
With its dress
Burning rough an animal's hand or foot moving over leaves.
The rainstorm retires clouds open sunlight
sliding over ocean water a thousand miles from land.
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