The Girl on Horseback

She rode down the shores of the prairie,
The golden grain washing her feet;
She looked like the queen of the fairies,
Walking on waves in the wheat.

I stood for a while and I watched her
As she stopped on the crest of a hill.
She gazed on the ocean about her—
A kingdom all silent and still.

Her beauty was reckless and wild:
Her hair was windswept and free.
She had the whimsical eyes of a child
That feasted on all she could see.

The glimmering glow of the sun’s light,
With heaven as red as the rose,
Shadowed her looks in the twilight
As nature about her reposed.

And slowly the moon rose behind her,
And slowly the sun sank before.
And thousands of stars danced above her—
She galloped away as before.

Back through the shores of the prairie,
With golden grain washing her feet,
She rode like the queen of the fairies,
Walking on waves in the wheat.

And slowly she waned in the shadows,
And slowly she sank with the sun;
My hope had dawned in the shadows,
And vanished away with the sun.

But while there is grain on the prairie,
And while there is wind through the wheat,
I’ll look for the queen of the fairies
Walking on waves in the wheat.