Hugh's Song of the Road

Horse-hoofs, horse-hoofs, thunder down the valley,

Foaming manes and tossing tails, strength and speed and fire.

Thudding, thudding, scampering, checks and sudden sallies,

Hear them up the mountain, higher still and higher,

Till we meet the wind, race the wind and down the hollows,

Drive the wind before us, leave it streaming out behind us;

Up, up again, the panting wind that follows,

Not the wind of heav'n itself may dare to catch and bind us.

Horse-hoofs, horse-hoofs, coming, passing by,

Do they call you in the noonday when the blood runs high?

Camp-fires, camp-fires, now the west is glowing,

Send their ruddy smoke up to greet the bright'ning moon.

Not a roof to shield your head from free winds blowing,

Not a wall to deaden the water's lulling tune!

Cooking round the camp-fires, busy sounds and heery,

Meat and drink for belly and the clinging turf for side.

Oh! to stretch your length when your back and bones are weary,

Dewy sleep on closing eyes from heaven's open wide.

Camp-fires, camp-fires, ruddy in the gloom,

Do they call you in the twilight from your stifling room?

Heartbeats, heartbeats - all the world is sleeping,

I alone am awake, I alone to care.

Ah! to wake alone while the merry stars are peeping,

Ah! to stretch out empty arms and fold a wandering air!

All the scented night breathes of beauty and of loving;

Heartbeats answer with a broken cry,

Calling for a bride with courage to go roving,

To dare the world for love beneath the open sky.

Heartbeats, heartbeats, throbbing for the bride;

Do they call you in the midnight to a strong man's side?