by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)
As I ride, as I ride
Language: English
As I ride, as I ride, With a full heart for my guide, So its tide rocks my side, As I ride, as I ride, That, as I were double-eyed, He, in whom our Tribes confide, Is descried, ways untried, As I ride, as I ride. As I ride, as I ride, To our Chief and his Allied, Who dares chide my heart's pride As I ride, as I ride? Or are witnesses denied -- Through the desert waste and wide Do I glide unespied As I ride, as I ride? As I ride, as I ride, When an inner voice has cried, The sands slide, nor abide (As I ride, as I ride) O'er each visioned homicide That came vaunting (has he lied?) To reside -- where he died, As I ride, as I ride. As I ride, as I ride, Ne'er has spur my swift horse plied, Yet his hide, streaked and pied, As I ride, as I ride, Shows where sweat has sprung and dried, -- Zebra-footed, ostrich-thighed -- How has vied stride with stride As I ride, as I ride! As I ride, as I ride, Could I loose what Fate has tied, Ere I pried, she should hide (As I ride, as I ride) All that's meant me -- satisfied When the Prophet and the Bride Stop veins I'd have subside As I ride, as I ride!
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Browning, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, Cambridge Edition, The Riverside Press, 1895, page 165.
Authorship:
- by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889), "Through the Metidja to Abd-El-Kadr" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "As I ride through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr", 1911, published 1912 [ voice and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-04-21
Line count: 40
Word count: 227