The Four Horsemen
The first appeared to me in white, I thought him pure of soul
Little did I know that night his spirit was black as coal
He conjured many connotations, but seemed of pure intent
Til he devoured nations and his plague would not relent
He spread like wildfire through the land, displaying no remorse
Paved the way for his brothers damned, each arriving in due course
In red the second of the four needed no introduction
I knew at once that this was War, with havoc and destruction
He caused the very world to bleed, and seeds of hate he sowed
And ventured he upon his steed where no other man would go
And once the earth was fertilised from the spill of veins
Those that he had terrorised rotted in their chains
The third arrived on a midnight mare, scales he displayed
But justice wasn’t his to share; for Famine was his trade
And as the darkness claims the sun, he brought his starvation
To claim all good ever done and reap his depravation
And even with his deed complete, black as his charcoal horse
The suffering did not retreat; as horsemen come in fours
And all too soon before me stood the fourth and final horseman
There he was with horse and hood, and spoke to me his caution
Pale and pallid his horse and pallor; left a lot to be desired
Now invalid; vigour and valour, no longer are required
The Fates - their cloth length cut as due - have measured mine alone
And now here comes Death - right on cue - to claim me as his own
Font size:
Submitted by SabreLi on November 28, 2019
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 35 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABBCC DDXXEE FFDDCX DDGGHH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,413 |
Words | 273 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Four Horsemen" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/51902/the-four-horsemen>.
Discuss the poem The Four Horsemen with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In