The One Hoss Shay

“Go!” – Through his ear the summons stung
As if a battle-trump had rung;
The slumbering instincts long unstirred
Start at the old familiar word;
It thrills like flame through every limb —
What mean his twenty years to him?
The savage blow his rider dealt
Fell on his hollow flanks unfelt;
The spur that pricked his staring hide
Unheeded tore his bleeding side;
Alike to him are spur and rein, —
He steps a five-year-old again!

Before the quarter pole was past,
Old Hiram said, “He’s going fast.”
Long ere the quarter was a half,
The chuckling crowd had ceased to laugh;
Tighter his frightened jockey clung
As in a mighty stride he swung,
The gravel flying in his track,
His neck stretched out, his ears laid back,
His tail extended all the while
Behind him like a rat-tail file!

Off went a shoe, – away it spun,
Shot like a bullet from a gun;
The quaking jockey shapes a prayer
From scraps of oaths he used to swear;
He drops his whip, he drops his rein,
He clutches fiercely for a mane;

He’ll lose his hold – he sways and reels —
He’ll slide beneath those trampling heels!
The knees of many a horseman quake,
The flowers on many a bonnet shake,
And shouts arise from left and right,
“Stick on! Stick on!” “Hould tight! Hould tight!”
“Cling round his neck and don’t let go – ”
“That pace can’t hold, – there! steady! whoa!”
But like the sable steed that bore
The spectral lover of Lenore,
His nostrils snorting foam and fire,
No stretch his bony limbs can tire;
And now the stand he rushes by,
And “Stop him! – stop him!” is the cry.

Stand back! he’s only just begun, —
He’s having out three heats in one!

“Don’t rush in front! he’ll smash your brains;
But follow up and grab the reins!”
Old Hiram spoke. Dan Pfeiffer heard,
And sprang impatient at the word;
Budd Doble started on his bay,
Old Hiram followed on his gray,
And off they spring, and round they go,
The fast ones doing “all they know.”

Look! twice they follow at his heels,
As round the circling course he wheels,
And whirls with him that clinging boy
Like Hector round the walls of Troy;
Still on, and on, the third time round!
They’re tailing off! they’re losing ground!

Budd Doble’s nag begins to fail!
Dan Pfeiffer’s sorrel whisks his tail!
And see! in spite of whip and shout,
Old Hiram’s mare is giving out!
Now for the finish! at the turn,
The old horse – all the rest astern, —
Comes swinging in, with easy trot;
By Jove! he’s distanced all the lot!

That trot no mortal could explain;
Some said, “Old Dutchman come again!”
Some took his time, – at least they tried,
But what it was could none decide;
One said he couldn’t understand
What happened to his second hand;
One said 2.10; that couldn’t be —
More like two twenty two or three;
Old Hiram settled it at last;
“The time was two – too dee-vel-ish fast!”

The parson’s horse had won the bet;
It cost him something of a sweat;
Back in the one-hoss shay he went;
The parson wondered what it meant,
And murmured, with a mild surprise
And pleasant twinkle of the eyes,
“That funeral must have been a trick,
Or corpses drive at double-quick;
I shouldn’t wonder, I declare,
If brother – Jehu – made the prayer!”

And this is all I have to say
About that tough old trotting bay.
Huddup! Huddup! G’lang! – Good-day!