With flowing tail, and flying mane,
Wide nostrils never stretch'd by pain
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
And feet that iron never shod.
And flanks unscarr'd by spur or rod,

A thousand horse, the wild, the free
Like waves that follow o'ver the sea
Came thickly thundering on………
They stop, they start, they snuff the air,
Gallop a moment here and there,

Approach, retire, wheel round and round
Then plunging back with sudden bound,
Headed by one black mighty steed,
Who seem'd the patriarch of his breed,
Without a single speck or hair
Of white upon his shaggy hide;

They snort, they foam, neigh, swerve aside,
And backward to the forest fly,
By instinct from a human eye.