Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COYOTE [OR, THE PRAIRIE WOLF], by FRANCIS BRET HARTE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COYOTE [OR, THE PRAIRIE WOLF], by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Blown out of the prairie in twilight and dew
Last Line: A four-footed friar in orders of gray!
Alternate Author Name(s): Harte, Bret
Subject(s): Coyotes


BLOWN out of the prairie in twilight and dew,
Half bold and half timid, yet lazy all through;
Loath ever to leave, and yet fearful to stay,
He limps in the clearing, -- an outcast in gray.

A shade on the stubble, a ghost by the wall,
Now leaping, now limping, now risking a fall,
Lop-eared and large-jointed, but ever alway
A thoroughly vagabond outcast in gray.

Here, Carlo, old fellow, -- he's one of your kind, --
Go, seek him, and bring him in out of the wind.
What! snarling, my Carlo! So -- even dogs may
Deny their own kin in the outcast in gray.

Well, take what you will, -- though it be on the sly,
Marauding, or begging, -- I shall not ask why;
But will call it a dole, just to help on his way
A four-footed friar in orders of gray!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net