*
Submit
Login
Links
Contests
Featured Poems
Fun & Games
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Poem Types
Books
Resources
Blogs
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
POTD
New Poems
Anthology
Classifieds
Quotes
*
Contests
Featured Poems
Fun & Games
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Fun & Games
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Books
Resources
Blogs
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Classifieds
Quotes
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 104.23.243.100
From Email:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
Out in the grey cheerless chill of the morning light, Out on the track where the night shades still lurk, ere the first gleam of the sungod's returning light Round come the racehorses early at work. Reefing and pulling and racing so readily, Close sit the jockey-boys holding them hard, "Steady the stallion there -- canter him steadily, Don't let him gallop so much as a yard." Fiercely he fights while the others run wide of him, Reefs at the bit that would hold him in thrall, Plunges and bucks till the boy that's astride of him Goes to the ground with a terrible fall. "Stop him there! Block him there! Drive him in carefully, Lead him about till he's quiet and cool. Sound as a bell! though he's blown himself fearfully, Now let us pick up this poor little fool. "Stunned? Oh, by Jove, I'm afraid it's a case with him; Ride for the doctor! keep bathing his head! Send for a cart to go down to our place with him" -- No use! One long sigh and the little chap's dead. Only a jockey-boy, foul-mouthed and bad you see, Ignorant, heathenish, gone to his rest. Parson or Presbyter, Pharisee, Sadducee, What did you do for him? -- bad was the best. Negroes and foreigners, all have a claim on you; Yearly you send your well-advertised hoard, But the poor jockey-boy -- shame on you, shame on you, "Feed ye My little ones" -- what said the Lord? Him ye held less than the outer barbarian, Left him to die in his ignorant sin; Have you no principles, humanitarian? Have you no precept -- "Go gather them in?" Knew he God's name? In his brutal profanity That name was an oath -- out of many but one. What did he get from our famed Christianity? Where has his soul -- if he had any -- gone? Fourteen years old, and what was he taught of it? What did he know of God's infinite Grace? Draw the dark curtain of shame o'er the thought of it Draw the shroud over the jockey-boy's face.
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required
Member Area
My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
My Poetry Duels
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Member Authors
Poetry Challenges
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Featured Poems of the Week
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Best New Poets
New Poets
Top 100 Poets with Most Poems
Top 100 Poets with Most Poems Recent
Top 100 Community Poets
Top 100 Contest Poets
In Memoriam
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - 100 Most Popular
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Greeting Card Maker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Short Stories
Spell Checker
Videos
Word Counter