A poem by
Walt Whitman, from
Leaves of Grass.
====
A line in long array where they wind betwixt green islands,
They take a serpentine course, their arms flash in the sun -
hark to the musical clank,
Behold the silvery river, in it the splashing horses loitering
stop to drink,
Behold the brown-faced men, each group, each person a picture,
the negligent rest on the saddles,
Some emerge on the opposite bank, others are just entering the ford - while,
Scarlet and blue and snowy white,
The guidon flags flutter gayly in the wind.