The darkness hides a hound upon a track. His bay resounds among the canyon walls -- In weird crescendo rises -- wavers -- falls -- Recedes -- draws nearer -- nearer -- coming back. Wild as the night and, as the night is, black, He fills the hollows with his fearsome cry, And though I peer to see him passing by My eyes their wonted keenness seem to lack. The forest shivers; all the leaves have fear; The wood folk creep to lie within their lairs. And well may heaven defend what heaven holds dear . . . What time the eerie dusk such echoes bears! The quarry flees. The circles wind and wind. And all night long the hound runs close behind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SAILING BEYOND SEAS (OLD STYLE) by JEAN INGELOW REBEL COLOR-BEARERS AT SHILOH by HERMAN MELVILLE A WINTRY LULLABY by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA TWO HELPERS by MARY RUSSELL BARTLETT WHAT THE MOON KNOWS by RICHARD BEHM MYSTERIOUS LIFE by EMMA BERGSTROM THE COMPLAINT OF ANNELIDA TO FALSE ARCITE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |