The Fly-Away Horse

           Oh, a wonderful horse is the Fly-Away Horse
                   Perhaps you have seen him before;
            Perhaps, while you slept, his shadow has swept
             Through the moonlight that floats on the floor.

           For it's only at night, when the stars twinkle bright,
                 That the Fly-Away Horse, with a neigh
              And a pull at his rein and a toss of his mane,
                       Is up on his heels and away!
                           The Moon in the sky,
                            As he gallopeth by,
                  Cries: "Oh! what a marvellous sight!"
                         And the Stars in dismay
                          Hide their faces away
                   In the lap of old Grandmother Night.

              It is yonder, out yonder, the Fly-Away Horse
                     Speedeth ever and ever away--
         Over meadows and lanes, over mountains and plains,
                 Over streamlets that sing at their play;
               And over the sea like a ghost sweepeth he,
                    While ships they go sailing below,
           And he speedeth so fast that the men at the mast
                   Adjudge him some portent of woe.
                        "What ho there!" they cry,
                            As he flourishes by 
                     With a whisk of his beautiful tail;
                          And the fish in the sea
                         Are as scared as can be,
                    From the nautilus up to the whale!

          And the Fly-Away Horse seeks those far-away lands
                     You little folk dream of at night--
           Where candy-trees grow, and honey-brooks flow,
                 And corn-fields with popcorn are white;
             And the beasts in the woods are ever so good
                    To children who visit them there--
                   What glory astride of a lion to ride,
                    Or to wrestle around with a bear!
                         The monkeys, they say:
                          "Come on, let us play,"
                  And they frisk in the cocoa-nut trees:
                       While the parrots, that cling
                        To the peanut-vines, sing
                  Or converse with comparative ease!

           Off! scamper to bed -- you shall ride him to-night!
                  For, as soon as you've fallen asleep,
              With a jubilant neigh he shall bear you away
                    Over forest and hillside and deep!
              But tell us, my dear, all you see and you hear
                   In those beautiful lands over there,
         Where the Fly-Away Horse wings his far-away course
                With the wee one consigned to his care.
                          Then grandma will cry
                        In amazement: "Oh, my!"
                  And she'll think it could never be so;
                             And only we two
                           Shall know it is true--
                  You and I, little precious! shall know!
 

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