My heart is like a toy horse Whose rider fired with fun, Whips up its sides for good or worse, And tries a race to run.
Some day that toy horse will fail To feel its rider’s joy; Its silver trapping soon will trail In dust of meaningless deploy, For after all ‘tis but a toy.
Anna M. Johnson's "Remorse" compares the speaker's heart to a toy horse, and the picture is a bit sad once you look at it. A rider, full of fun, whips the horse's sides and sets off on a race. The rider seems to be someone, or something, that uses the heart for excitement without much care for what it costs. The phrase "for good or worse" hints that the ride isn't always kind.
The second stanza turns darker. A day will come when the horse can no longer feel the rider's joy, and its "silver trapping," the shiny decoration, will end up trailing in the dust. The last line, "after all 'tis but a toy," sounds almost like a shrug, but it also stings. The speaker seems to see a heart used up and then dismissed as unimportant. Given the title, the mood is regretful, quiet and a little bruised, as if the speaker is looking back on feelings spent too freely.