to the gentle and good...

I came across this from the fascinating Eliza Thayer Clapp, teacher and poet and Transcendentalist. Her book "Studies in Religion" was, to Frederic Henry Hedge, "a revelation." This a poem from that volume...

" I saw, and behold, a white horse."
[John the Divine.]
I Saw in the midst of a sunny green plain,
A beautiful horse, without spur, bit, or rein;
And his delicate limbs were white as the snow
"When it shines fresh and smooth, in the morning's new
glow;
And his eyes were as bright as bright jewels are,
But soft in their light, as the light of a star:
And his feet were as fleet as the wing of a bird,
When it soars o'er the clouds to sing there unheard;
And you heard not the sound of his step, as it pass'd,
For he went like the wind, as silent and fast.

And the beautiful horse was gentle and mild,
And he that bestrode was a young, tender child:
But the mien of the boy was lofty and high,
And courage and cheer glanced out from his eye;
And he shouted aloud and sang in his glee,
"Huzza ! who will ride the white courser with mel "
And the words and the shout on the waiting air fell,
And rang in the ear like the ring of a bell.

Oh, tell us, thou child of the quick, daring eye,
That shines like the sun in the blue of the sky,
On whose forehead is gentleness blended with force,—
Who shall mount like to thee the snowy white horse?
Then came there a voice, as a mother's low song,
Blent with boyhood's rough shout, so sweet, yet so strong;
Forever, and more, to the faithful and true,
To the gentle and good, the race is to you !
But the low and the selfish, and sullen, we scorn,
None such on the neck of the courser are borne,
But lowly he bows to the truthful and free,
And bears them aloft, unto victory!"

blessings