Riding at Night
by Ralph Garnier Coole, from Songs of Men
On and on through the silent night,
Under the sky with its tranquil light
Of stars that are smiling and blinking bright—
Riding…just riding along …
Up the hill and over the rise;
Can’t see the trail but my horse is wise;
He knows where the hidden hill-trail lies;
Riding…just riding along…
A flicker of fire from his steel-shod feet,
As the hoof-beats ring and the rocks repeat—
Easy, boy! Easy! Now keep your feet;
Riding…just riding along…
Out of the stillness, faint and small,
The lean, gray hunters of midnight call,
And the querulous echoes rise and fall;
Riding…just riding along…
The trail of a meteor streaks the sky,
And drops in the void of the dusk to die,
And I gaze as I wonder, “Where—and Why?”
Riding…just riding along…
The jingle of rein-chains seems to be
Singing a song of peace to me;
A song of the range where a man is free…
Riding…just riding along…
And the white moon rising above the gap,
Smiles on the world in its quiet nap,
Dreaming away in old Nature’s lap;
Riding…just riding along…
Then the crest of the range is a rose-lit height,
As the dawn leaps after the fading night,
And we’re back in camp with the morning light;
Riding…just riding along…