THE dusky night rides down the sky, And ushers in the morn: The hounds all join in glorious cry, The huntsman winds his horn, And a hunting we will go. The wife around her husband throws Her arms to make him stay; "My dear, it rains, it hails, it blows; You cannot hunt to-day." Yet a hunting we will go. A brushing fox in yonder wood, Secure to find we seek; For why, I carried sound and good A cartload there last week. And a-hunting we will go. Away they fly to 'scape the rout, Their steeds they soundly switch; Some are thrown in, and some thrown out, And some thrown in the ditch. Yet a hunting we will go. Sly Reynard now like lightning flies, And sweeps across the vale; And when the hounds too near he spies, He drops his bushy tail. Then a hunting we will go. Fond Echo seems to like the sport, And join the jovial cry; The woods, the hills, the sound retort, And music fills the sky, When a hunting we do go. At last his strength to faintness worn, Poor Reynard ceases flight; Then hungry, homeward we return, To feast away the night, And a drinking we do go. Ye jovial hunters, in the morn Prepare then for the chase; Rise at the sounding of the horn And health with sport embrace, When a hunting we do go. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FALL; A GREAT FAVORIT BEHEADED by LUIS DE GONGORA MORAL ESSAYS: EPISTLE 2. TO A LADY: OF THE CHARACTERS OF WOMEN by ALEXANDER POPE PUCK AND THE FAIRY, FR. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE NEW YEAR'S EVE by GEORGE ARNOLD SONNET TO THE KYNGE by THEODORE AGRIPPA D' AUBIGNE MIRTH by EDITH COURTENAY BABBITT AMERICA A PROPHECY by WILLIAM BLAKE STANZAS by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: AT HOME DURING THE BALL by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |