Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SPORTING WITHOUT A LICENSE, by HORACE SMITH Poet's Biography First Line: There's a charm when spring is young Last Line: What charm of life is wanting? Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Horatio Subject(s): Charm; Death; Hunting; Singing & Singers; Sports; Spring; Dead, The; Hunters | ||||||||
THERE'S a charm when Spring is young, And comes laughing on the breeze, When each leaflet has a tongue, That is lisping in the trees, When morn is fair and the sunny air With chime of beaks is ringing, Through fields to rove with her we love, And listen to their singing. The sportsman finds a zest, Which all others can outvie, With his lightning to arrest Pheasants whirring through the sky; With dog and gun from dawn of sun Till purple evening hovers, O'er field and fen, and hill and glen, The happiest of rovers. The hunter loves to dash Through the horn-resounding woods, Or plunge with fearless splash Into intercepting floods; O'er gap and gate he leaps elate, The vaulting stag to follow, And at the death has scarcely breath To give the whoop and hallo! By the river's margin dank, With the weeds and rushes mixed, Like a statue on a bank, See the patient angler fixed! A summer's day he whiles away Without fatigue or sorrow, And if the fish should baulk his wish, He comes again to-morrow. In air let pheasants range, 'Tis to me a glorious sight, Which no fire of mine shall change Into grovelling blood and night; I am no hound, to pant and bound Behind a stag that's flying; Nor can I hook a trout from brook, On grass to watch its dying. And yet no sportsman keen Can sweeter pastime ply, Or enjoy the rural scene With more ecstacy than I: There's not a view, a form, a hue, In earth, or air, or ocean, That does not fill my heart, and thrill My bosom with emotion. O clouds that paint the air! O fountains, fields, and groves! Lights, sounds, and odours rare, Which my yearning spirit loves! While thus I feel, and only steal From visions so enchanting, In tuneful lays to sing your praise, What charm of life is wanting? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAMENT OF QUARRY by LEONIE ADAMS KILLDEER by KENNETH SLADE ALLING THE YOUNG FOWLER THAT MISTOOK HIS GAME by PHILIP AYRES A POEM ABOUT THE HOUNDS AND THE HARES by LISEL MUELLER ADDRESS TO THE MUMMY AT BELZONI'S EXHIBITION by HORACE SMITH |
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