Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE RISING OF THE SUN by REGINALD HEBER

First Line: WAKE! WAKE! WAKE TO THE HUNTING!
Last Line: FORTH TO THE HUNTING! THE SUN'S RIDING HIGH!
Subject(s): DEER; HUNTING; SEA; WOLVES; HUNTERS; OCEAN;

WAKE! wake! wake to the hunting!
Wake ye, wake! the morning is nigh!
Chilly the breezes blow
Up from the sea below,
Chilly the twilight creeps over the sky!
Mark how fast the stars are fading!
Mark how wide the dawn is spreading!
Many a fallow deer
Feeds in the forest near;
Many a gallant wolf waits for the hunter's spear;
Now is no time on the heather to lie!

Rise, rise! look on the ocean!
Rise ye, rise, and look on the sky!
Softly the vapours sweep
Over the level deep,
Softly the mists on the waterfall lie!
In the cloud red tints are glowing,
On the hill the black cock's crowing;
And through the welkin red,
See where he lifts his head,
King of the morning, aroused from his purple bed!
Forth to the hunting! The sun's riding high!



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