Grieve not because the mallards pass unharmed While you, once hunter, scorn your hunting lease; Nor grieve that doe and fawn now feed in peace And nose the waters near you unalarmed. Not youth decanted lets you watch unarmed, Unchallenged to the chase by honking geese, Unlured to romance in the trail's caprice -- A stronger cup than youth now holds you charmed. A potion has your yearless wisdom brewed From bitter beauty and from stifled whine, From sharpened cries, and death's hushed magnitude, From love grown mellow as old cellared wine; -- This virile essence holds you, heavy shod, To view the wing and hoof beats as a God. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CAMBODIAN BOX by KAREN SWENSON SUMMER NIGHT-BROADWAY by LOUIS UNTERMEYER A SUMMER EVENING'S MEDITATION by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE MARTYR; INDICATIVE OF PASSION OF PEOPLES APRIL 15, 1865 by HERMAN MELVILLE IRELAND; A SEASIDE PORTRAIT by JOHN JAMES PIATT EDEN BOWER by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI |