THE WILD BEAST
One spring as I went walking
By budding leaf and thorn
To see the sun a-shining
Upon an Easter morn;
My hound she gambolled by me,
Oft hunting in her play
Some small thing in the hedges
She found upon her way,
How splendid was her going,
How happy was her joy,
I felt I could not chide her
Nor dared her play destroy.
Yet oft I called “Come hither,
I fear lest thou displace
Some hidden beast or reptile
All savage for the chase.”
I scarce had spoken to her
And turned again for town
When we were in the shadows
And fog and mist came down.
21
