This is the game of our hearts! <br />Foot to the stirrup! Away! <br />Care with the night departs, <br />Joy comes in with the day. <br />A good horse tossing his rings, <br />A light rime decking the thorn: <br />And the heart of the horseman sings <br />For love of a hunting morn. <br />This is the game of our hearts! <br />Mottled flanks in the fern; <br />Rate where a rabbit starts, <br />Cheer to a waving stern; <br />Call that we rush to obey <br />From a Whip at his post outside: <br />Gone away! Gone aw-a-a-ay! <br />And we sit down to ride. <br />This is the game of our hearts! <br />Crash and rattle of rail; <br />Lean hounds driving like darts <br />Into the breast of the vale. <br />Tried Age taking the lead, <br />Rash Youth coated with clay; <br />Glory and glamour of speed, <br />And a right fox away. <br />This is the game of our hearts, <br />Whatever luck may ensue- <br />This, where a Master of Arts <br />May fail and a dunce get through! <br />This, where the confident thrust; <br />This, where the cowardly crane; <br />This, where there's nothing to trust <br />But fate and the feel of the rein. <br />This is the game of our hearts! <br />Squire and lawyer and lord, <br />Men of the farms and the marts, <br />Men of the pen and the sword; <br />Comrades we jog to the meet, <br />Rivals we ride the line, <br />And the sound of the hoofs is sweet <br />And the taste of the wind is wine.<br /><br />William Henry Ogilvie<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-game-of-our-hearts/
