The Wild Beast Poem by Dora Sigerson Shorter

One spring as I went walking
By budding leaf and thorn
To see the sun a-shining
Upon an Easter morn;
My hound she gambolled by me,
Oft hunting in her play
Some small thing in the hedges
She found upon her way,
How splendid was her going
How happy was her joy,
I felt I could not chide her
Nor dared her play destroy.

Yet oft I called 'Come hither,
I fear lest thou displace
Some hidden beast or reptile
All savage for the chase.'
I scarce had spoken to her
And turned again for town
When we were in the shadows
And fog and mist came down.
When from the gloom and darkness
Some lion voice did roar;
He sprung upon our pathway
To stand our road before.
I cried in vain contention,
'O, let us go way,'
But to our further progress
The red cat stood at bay.
My hound would not obey me
So brave and fine was she
But sprang upon the wild beast
To fight for liberty.

Oh, how my heart was beating
So full of grief and fear
At thunder of the battle
That fell upon my ear.
Oh, great and splendid fighting
Like to the times of Fionn,
Alas! uneven chances,
My dear one could not win;
And sudden to a silence
I opened eyes of pain,
With face towards her foe still
My faithful hound was slain.

But she has left behind her
A pup of splendid race,
And he shall bound before me
And take the other's place.
So I can go a-walking
'Mid budding leaf and thorn
To see the sun a-rising
Upon an Easter morn.