A short life in the saddle, Lord!
Not long life by the fire.

The couplet sets two kinds of life in stark opposition: a brief, vigorous existence “in the saddle” (active, risk-taking, outward-facing) versus a long, sheltered life “by the fire” (safe, domestic, inward). Addressing God (“Lord!”) frames the preference as a prayer or vow, suggesting that the speaker values intensity, purpose, and courage over mere longevity. In Guiney’s idiom, the saddle evokes chivalric or martial romance—life as quest or service—so the line reads as an ethic of ardor: better to burn brightly in action than to endure comfortably without striving.