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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE PASSING OF THE LAST FIRE HORSE FROM MANHATTAN ISLAND by KENNETH SLADE ALLING

First Line: I REMEMBER THE CLEARED STREETS, THE STRANGE SUSPENSE
Last Line: THEY CAME, AND THEY ARE GONE, AND UNRETURNING.
Subject(s): ANIMALS; FIREFIGHTERS; HORSES; NEW YORK CITY; MANHATTAN; NEW YORK, NEW YORK; THE BIG APPLE;
I remember the cleared streets, the strange suspense,
As if a thunderstorm were under way;
Magnificently furious, hurrying thence,
The fire-eyed horses racing to the fray;
Out of old Homer where the heroes are,
Beating upon the whirlwind thunderous hoofs,
Wild horses and plumed Ajax in his car:
Oh, in those days we still possessed the proofs
Men battled shouting by the gates of Troy,
With shields of triple brass and spears of flame.
What ring on stone and steel; those horses came
Like horses of gods that whirl to the dawn's burning,
They came, and they are gone, and unreturning.



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