Poems (May)/A portrait
For works with similar titles, see A Portrait.
A PORTRAIT.
His small arched neck looks fiery like a steed's, His eyes are dark and glancing. Antelopes Are limbed as lightly. Knee-deep in bright tan He stands—bright tan across his sloping chest, And o'er his throat, that's graceful as a lady's,Save this all glossy blackness. Like most brutes He proves his breeding by his fine positions; Now, stretched without my window, on the roof That slopes into the sunshine, light limbs crossed And muzzle laid athwart them; now, distinct, Painted against the sky, one slender foot Lift, and bent inward; now, upon my couch He lies with crest erect, and tawny paws Dropt o'er the cushion's edge.