The Horse

James Stephens 1882 (Dublin) – 1950



A sparrow hopped about the street,
  And he was not a bit afraid;
He flew between a horse's feet,
  And ate his supper undismayed:
I think myself the horse knew well
  The bird came for the grains that fell.

For his eye was looking down,
  And he danced the corn about
In his nose-bag, till the brown
  Grains of corn were tumbled out;
And I fancy that he said,
  'Eat it up, young Speckle-Head!'

The driver then came back again,
  He climbed into the heavy dray;
And he tightened up the rein,
  Cracked his whip and drove away.
But when the horse's ribs were hit,
  The sparrow did not care a bit.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
72

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAABB CDCDEE XFXFGG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 589
Words 115
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6

James Stephens

James Stephens was an Irish Republican and the founding member of an originally unnamed revolutionary organisation in Dublin on 17 March 1858, later to become known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also referred to as the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood by contemporaries. more…

All James Stephens poems | James Stephens Books

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