ONCE, when their hearts were wild with joy, They bedded on the downs: Hours drifted past, the dawn grew ghast, Their polls wore dewy crowns. While the stars paled, she, first, awoke And saw, no more alone, They kernel were to a herd of deer, Come round them all unknown. A dun buck couched upon the left, A white doe to their right, An hundred others, like watching mothers, Loomed peacefully out of night. Ere she could wake him, they rose and were shaking Small droplets from cold thighs; Proudly the leader then streamed them afar To where the sun would rise. Till, dot by dot, they threaded the arch His lifting forehead raised, And, sublimed to light, were lost to sight, Though still enthralled she gazed. Her lover rose and, leaning close, Through to her mind he peered; Parked therein, numerous, timid, dumb Musings retired or neared. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A GUY I KNOW ON 47TH AND COTTAGE by CLARENCE MAJOR THE SHIPWRECK, SELECTION by WILLIAM FALCONER ANSWER TO MASTER WITHER'S SONG, 'SHALL I, WASTING IN DESPAIR?' by BEN JONSON THE CROPPY BOY: (A BALLAD OF '98) by WILLIAM B. MCBURNEY SONNET: 12 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: DEDICATORY SONNET by EDMUND SPENSER |