Friendship, as love, is but a name,
Save in a concentrated flame;
And thus, in friendships, who depend
On more than one, find not one friend.
A hare who, in a civil way,
Was not dissimilar to GAY,
Was well known never to offend,
And every creature was her friend.
As was her wont, at early dawn,
She issued to the dewy lawn;
When, from the wood and empty lair,
The cry of hounds fell on her ear.
She started at the frightful sounds,
And doubled to mislead the hounds;
Till, fainting with her beating heart,
She saw the horse, who fed apart.
'My friend, the hounds are on my track;
Oh, let me refuge on your back! '
The horse responded: 'Honest Puss,
It grieves me much to see you thus.
Be comforted-relief is near;
Behold, the bull is in the rear.'
Then she implored the stately bull,
His answer we relate in full:
'Madam, each beast alive can tell
How very much I wish you well;
But business presses in a heap,
I an appointment have to keep;
And now a lady's in the case,-
When other things, you know, give place.
Behold the goat is just behind;
Trust, trust you'll not think me unkind.'
The goat declared his rocky lairs
Wholly unsuited were to hares.
'There is the sheep,' he said, 'with fleece.
Adapted, now, to your release.'
The sheep replied that she was sure
Her weight was too great to endure;
'Besides,' she said, 'hounds worry sheep.'
Next was a calf, safe in a keep:
'Oh, help me, bull-calf-lend me aid! '
'My youth and inexperience weighed,'
Replied the bull-calf, 'though I rue it,
Make me incompetent to do it;
My friends might take offence. My heart-
You know my heart, my friend-we part,
I do assure you-Hark! adieu!
The pack, in full cry, is in view.'
All are friends! But who is real friend? It reminds me of a friend in need is a friend in deed! The poem of John Gay very well depicts this moral truth!
WoW! ! ! Thanks PH has published John Gay's poems here....he did more to literature more like William Shakespeare.
What a well-written expose of the value of professed friendship
that poor rabbit..the neat thing about is that while the hare was talking to the other barnyard animals its sent and footprints mingled with the others..the hounds would have had problems following it then..smart bunny! ! ! too bad the poet didn't write a concluding stanza..good poem..
.................a well thought out poem.....is friendship real or only another dream....
first stanza worth of dying immensity a poem that teaces many thing lovely poem
This seems a cynical attitude towards friendship, but it must be remembered that the hare was facing a terrible foe. How many Germans helped their friends out when the Gestapo came for them?
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I love story poems like this, with moral!