Robert Duncan

“Ode to the Horse”

Where in the wide world can we find nobility
without pride,
Friendship without envy, or beauty
without vanity?
Here where grace is laced with muscle,
And strength by gentleness confines.
He serves without servility,
has fought without enmity.
There is nothing so powerful,
nothing less violent; Nothing as quick,
nothing more patient.
The world’s past has been borne on his back.
We are his heirs; he is our inheritance.
The horse.