The breath, when on the point of departing, tore up the other senses, as a horse, going to start, might tear up the pegs to which he is tethered. They came to him and said: 'Sir, be thou (our lord); thou art the best among us. Do not depart from us!'

In plain words: When breath began to leave, it pulled all the other senses loose, like a horse ripping up its tether pegs. They begged breath to stay and called it their lord and the best of them.