IN a faraway northern county, in the placid, pastoral region, <br /> Lives my farmer friend, the theme of my recitative, a famous Tamer of <br /> Oxen: <br /> There they bring him the three-year-olds and the four-year-olds, to <br /> break them; <br /> He will take the wildest steer in the world, and break him and tame <br /> him; <br /> He will go, fearless, without any whip, where the young bullock <br /> chafes up and down the yard; <br /> The bullock's head tosses restless high in the air, with raging eyes; <br /> Yet, see you! how soon his rage subsides--how soon this Tamer tames <br /> him: <br /> See you! on the farms hereabout, a hundred oxen, young and old--and <br /> he is the man who has tamed them; <br /> They all know him--all are affectionate to him; <br /> See you! some are such beautiful animals--so lofty looking! 10 <br /> Some are buff color'd--some mottled--one has a white line running <br /> along his back--some are brindled, <br /> Some have wide flaring horns (a good sign)--See you! the bright <br /> hides; <br /> See, the two with stars on their foreheads--See, the round bodies and <br /> broad backs; <br /> See, how straight and square they stand on their legs--See, what <br /> fine, sagacious eyes; <br /> See, how they watch their Tamer--they wish him near them--how they <br /> turn to look after him! <br /> What yearning expression! how uneasy they are when he moves away from <br /> them: <br /> --Now I marvel what it can be he appears to them, (books, politics, <br /> poems depart--all else departs;) <br /> I confess I envy only his fascination--my silent, illiterate friend, <br /> Whom a hundred oxen love, there in his life on farms, <br /> In the northern county far, in the placid, pastoral region.<br /><br />Walt Whitman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-ox-tamer/
