Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WRITTEN .. ON SEEING A MAD HEIFER RUN THROUGH THE VILLAGE, by ELIZABETH HANDS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WRITTEN .. ON SEEING A MAD HEIFER RUN THROUGH THE VILLAGE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When summer smiled, and birds on every spray
Last Line: No more she'll fright our village, I presage.
Alternate Author Name(s): Daphne
Subject(s): Cows


WHEN summer smiled, and birds on every spray
In joyous warblings tuned their vocal lay,
Nature on all sides showed a lovely scene,
And people's minds were, like the air, serene;
Sudden from th' herd we saw an heifer stray,
And to our peaceful village bend her way.
She spurns the ground with madness as she flies,
And clouds of dust, like autumn mists, arise;
Then bellows loud: the villagers, alarmed,
Come rushing forth, with various weapons armed;
Some run with pieces of old broken rakes,
And some from hedges pluck the rotten stakes;
Here one in haste, with hand-staff of his flail,
And there another comes with half a rail;
Whips, without lashes, sturdy ploughboys bring,
While clods of dirt and pebbles others fling.
Voices tumultuous rend the listening ear:
'Stop her', one cries; another, 'Turn her there':
But furiously she rushes by them all,
And some huzza, and some to cursing fall.
A mother snatched her infant off the road,
Close to the spot of ground where next she trod;
Camilla, walking, trembled and turned pale:
See o'er her gentle heart what fears prevail!
At last the beast, unable to withstand
Such force united, leaped into a pond:
The water quickly cooled her maddened rage;
No more she'll fright our village, I presage.





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