Full-blooded courser, careering onward, with rail and with wheel;
Black with fuliginous breathing—panting of wo and of weal.
Firm be his muscle who mounts thee, clear and true be his eye;
Generous his heart with compassion, willing if need be to die,
Who sets thy hot blood a-dancing, and forces thy clarion cry!
For he reins a mightier stallion—a swifter creature of awe,
Stronger and darker and wilder than the old Arabian saw—
His neck clothed with the thunder, and ravin and rage his law!
Like a planet out of its orbit he moves when he leaps his rail:
Hold him and guide him, O rider! thy purpose he will not fail;