“FOUR FIERY STEEDS IMPATIENT OF THE REIN”
Composed 1835.—Published 1835
[Suggested on the road between Preston and Lancaster where it first gives a view of the Lake country, and composed on the same day, on the roof of the coach.—I.F.]
One of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”—Ed.
Four fiery steeds impatient of the rein
Whirled us o’er sunless ground beneath a sky
As void of sunshine, when, from that wide plain,
Clear tops of far-off mountains we descry,
Like a Sierra of cerulean Spain, 5
All light and lustre. Did no heart reply?
Yes, there was One;—for One, asunder fly
The thousand links of that ethereal chain;
And green vales open out, with grove and field,
And the fair front of many a happy Home; 10
Such tempting spots as into vision come
While Soldiers, weary of the arms they wield
And sick at heart[50] of strifeful Christendom,
Gaze on the moon by parting clouds revealed.
[50] 1837.
While Soldiers, of the weapons that they wield
Weary, and sick of strifeful …
1835.