LIKE a grey shadow lurking in the light, He ventures forth along the edge of night; With silent foot he scouts the coulie's rim And scents the carrion awaiting him. His savage eyeballs lurid with a flare Seen but in unfed beasts which leave their lair To wrangle with their fellows for a meal Of bones ill-covered. Sets he forth to steal, To search and snarl and forage hungrily; A worthless prairie vagabond is he. Luckless the settler's heifer which astray Falls to his fangs and violence a prey; Useless her blatant calling when his teeth Are fast upon her quivering flank—beneath His fell voracity she falls and dies With inarticulate and piteous cries, Unheard, unheeded in the barren waste, To be devoured with savage greed and haste. Up the horizon once again he prowls And far across its desolation howls; Sneaking and satisfied his lair he gains And leaves her bones to bleach upon the plains. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BOADICEA; AN ODE by WILLIAM COWPER LONG ISLAND SOUND by EMMA LAZARUS FIREFLY; A SONG by ELIZABETH MADOX ROBERTS THE HOUSE ON THE HILL by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON AUTUMN: A DIRGE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY DOROTHY IN THE GARRET by JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE |