Explore "Do They Know" by Andrew Barton Paterson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Do they know? At the turn to the straight / Where the favourites fail, / And every atom of weight / Is telling its tale; / As some grim old stayer hard-pressed / Runs true to his breed, / And with head just in front of the rest / Fights on in the lead; / When the jockeys are out with the whips, / With a furlong to go; / And the backers grow white to the lips -- / Do you think THEY don't know?
Do they know? As they come back to weigh / In a whirlwind of cheers, / Though the spurs have left marks of the fray, / Though the sweat on the ears / Gathers cold, and they sob with distress / As they roll up the track, / They know just as well their success / As the man on their back. / As they walk through a dense human lane, / That sways to and fro, / And cheers them again and again, / Do you think THEY don't know?