O love is like an untamed steed!—
So hot of heart and wild of speed,
And with fierce freedom so in love,
The desert is not vast enough,
With all its leagues of glimmering sands,
To pasture it! Ah, that my hands
Were more than human in their strength,
That my deft lariat at length
Might safely noose this splendid thing
That so defies all conquering!
Ho! but to see it whirl and reel —
The sands spurt forward — and to feel
The quivering tension of the thong
That throned me high, with shriek and song!
To grapple tufts of tossing mane —
To spurn it to its feet again,
And then, sans saddle, rein or bit,
To lash the mad life out of it!