Classic Poem

On a horse so swift it breaks the spirit of those who watch it,
with the hooves cutting the earth as if pushing it backward,
the young warrior who torments and destroys those who make
light of him, piercing chests with his long and strong
and raging spear—you can see him coming, he who yesterday,
before the famous kings, forced warriors aside like a boat
sailing the ocean that washes between its shores and brought
down bull elephants with shining tusks
whose young cows, their heads so tender, mourned for them.