HORSES in horseclothes stand in a row On board the huge ship, that at last lets go: Whither are they sailing? They do not know, Nor what for, nor how. -- They are horses of war, And are going to where there is fighting afar; But they gaze through their eye-holes unwitting they are, And that in some wilderness, gaunt and ghast, Their bones will bleach ere a year has passed, And the item be as "war-waste" classed. -- And when the band booms, and the folk say "Good-bye!" And the shore slides astern, they appear wrenched awry From the scheme Nature planned for them, -- wondering why. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NURSE'S SONG, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE WHEN LET BY RAIN by EDWARD TAYLOR DRESSING THE BRIDE (A FRAGMENT) by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE METEMPSYCHOSIS by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH AUTUMN MALADE by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE |