Classic Poem

A LONG the crowded street
Comes the clang of the cable car
And its thunderous clank and beat;
But under the hill by Ruby Scar
A horse is clinking his curb and bar
And pawing with restless feet;
For an old fox lean and fleet
Is stealing away
Through the winter day
From the music stern and sweet.—
Yoick! Yoick! Yoi-ick!
And don't I wish I were there with you!

I'm sick of the whirling crowd
And the wheels that rattle and spin,
And I long for the war-note loud
Of hounds with their merry maddening din
As they tumble out of the Ruby Whin
With a blazing scent avowed,
Stealing away
Through the winter day
Like a swift white passing cloud.
For'rit! For'r'rit!
And don't I wish I were there with you!

The arc lights gather and glow
And the motor lamps glide by,
To be lost in the ebb and flow
Like far-off stars that flicker and die;
But under the dome of a darkening sky,
Through the lanes that I love and know,
Rider and horse mud-splashed and slow
In the dim blue light
Of the winter night
Through the dead leaves homeward go.—
Hold up! Old boy!
And don't I wish I were there with you!