The poem
1842
I
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.
II
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?
III
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.
IV
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!
V
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!