Classic Poem

My hands were hot upon a hare,
Half-strangled, struggling in a snare,
My knuckles at her warm windpipe —
When suddenly her eyes shot back,
Startled and startling, big and black,
And, ere I knew, my grip was slack
And I was clutching empty air,
Half-mad, half-glad at my lost luck ...
When I awaked beside the stack.

'Twas just the moment when the snipe,
As though clock-wakened on the stroke,
An hour ere dawn, dart in and out,
Mist-wreaths in every syke asoak,
And flutter wheeling round about
And drumming out the summer night.
I lay star-gazing yet a bit,
Then, chilly-skinned, I sat upright
To shrug the shivers from my back,
And, drawing out a straw to suck,
My teeth nipped through it at a bite ...
The liveliest lad is out of pluck
An hour ere dawn — a tame cock-sparrow,
When cold stars shiver through his marrow
And wet mist soaks his mother-wit.

But as the snipe dropped one by one,
And one by one the stars blinked out,
I knew 'twould only need the sun
To send the shudders right-about;
And, as the clear East faded white,
I watched and wearied for the sun —
The jolly, welcome, friendly sun,
The sleepy sluggard of a sun
That still kept snoozing out of sight,
Though well he knew the night was done ...
And after all he caught me dozing,
And leapt up laughing in the sky
Just as my lazy eyes were closing;
And it was good as gold to lie
Full-length among the straw and feel
The day wax warmer every minute
As, glowing glad from head to heel,
I soaked and rolled rejoicing in it ...
When from the corner of my eye
Upon a heathery knowe hard-by,
With long lugs cocked and eyes astare,
Yet, all serene, I saw a hare.

Upon my belly in the straw
I lay and watched her sleek her fur
As, daintily, with well-licked paw,
She washed her face and neck and ears;
Then clean and comely in the sun
She kicked her heels up full of fun,
As if she didn't care a pin
Though she should jump out of her skin,
And leapt and lolloped free of fears,
Until my heart frisked round with her.
And yet if I but lift my head
You'll scamper off, young Puss , I said.
Still I can't lie and watch you play,
Upon my belly, half the day.
The Lord alone knows where I'm going,
But I had best be getting there.
Last night I loosed you from the snare —
Asleep or waking, who's for knowing? —
So I will thank you now for showing
Which art to take to bring me where
My luck awaits me. When you're ready
To start I'll follow on your track.
Though slow of foot I'm sure and steady ...
She pricked her ears, then set them back,
And like a shot was out of sight;
And with a happy heart and light
As quickly I was on my feet
And following the way she went
Across the heather and the bent,
Across the quaking moss and peat.
Of course I lost her soon enough,
For moorland tracks are steep and rough,
And hares are made of nimbler stuff
Than any lad of seventeen,
However lanky-legged and tough,
However kestrel-eyed and keen:
And I'd at last to stop and eat
The little bit of bread and meat
Left in my pocket overnight.
So in a hollow snug and green
I sat beside a burn and dipped
The dry bread in an icy pool,
And munched a breakfast fresh and cool ...
And then sat gaping like a fool ...
For, right before my very eyes,
With lugs acock and eyes astare,
I saw again the selfsame hare.

So up I jumped and off she slipped,
And I kept sight of her until
I stumbled in a hole and tripped
And came a heavy headlong spill:
And she, ere I'd the wit to rise,
Was o'er the hill and out of sight;
And sore and shaken with the tumbling,
And sicker at my foot for stumbling,
I cursed my luck and went on, grumbling,
The way her flying heels had fled.

The sky was cloudless overhead
And just alive with larks asinging;
And in a twinkling I was swinging
Across the windy hills, lighthearted.
A kestrel at my footstep started,
Just pouncing on a frightened mouse,
And hung o'erhead with wings ahover;
Through rustling heath an adder darted
A hundred rabbits bobbed to cover;
A weasel, sleek and rusty red,
Popped out of sight as quick as winking;
I saw a grizzled vixen slinking
Behind a clucking brood of grouse
That rose and cackled at my coming;
And all about my way were flying
The peewit with their slow wings creaking;
And little grey snipe darted drumming;
And now and then a golden plover
Or redshank piped with reedy whistle:
But never shaken bent or thistle
Betrayed the quarry I was seeking,
And not an instant anywhere
Did I clap eyes upon a hare.

So travelling still the twilight caught me,
And as I stumbled on I muttered:
A deal of luck the hare has brought me!
The wind and I must spend together
A hungry night among the heather.
If I'd her here ... And as I uttered
I tripped and heard a frightened squeal,
And dropped my hands in time to feel
The hare just bolting 'twixt my feet.
She slipped my clutch, and I stood there
And cursed that devil-littered hare
That left me stranded in the dark
In that wide waste of quaggy peat
Beneath black night without a spark;
When, looking up, I saw a flare
Upon a far-off hill and said:
By God, the heather is afire!
It's mischief at this time of year ...
And then, as one bright flame shot higher,
And booths and vans stood out quite clear,
My wits came back into my head,
And I remembered Brough Hill Fair:

And as I stumbled towards the glare
I knew the sudden kindling meant
The Fair was over for the day,
And all the cattle folk away,
And gipsy folk and tinkers now
Were lighting supper-fires without
Each caravan and booth and tent.
And as I climbed the stiff hill-brow
I quite forgot my lucky hare.
I'd something else to think about;
For well I knew there's broken meat
For empty bellies after fair-time,
And looked to have a royal rare time,
With something rich and prime to eat,
And then to lie and toast my feet
All night beside the biggest fire.

But even as I neared the first
A pleasant whiff of stewing burst
From out a steaming pot abubble;
And as I stopped behind the folk
Who sprawled around and watched it seething,
A woman heard my eager breathing
And, turning, caught my hungry eye,
And called out to me: Draw in nigher ,
Unless you find it too much trouble,
Or you've a nose for better fare
And go to supper with the Squire —
You've got the hungry parson's air!
And all looked up and took the joke,
As I dropped gladly to the ground
Among them where they all lay gazing
Upon the bubbling and the blazing.
My eyes were dazzled by the fire
At first, and then I glanced around,
And in those swarthy fire-lit faces —
Though drowsing in the glare and heat
And snuffing the warm savour in,
Dead-certain of their fill of meat —
I felt the bit between the teeth,
The flying heels, the broken traces,
And heard the high-road ring beneath
The trampling hoofs, and knew them kin.
Then for the first time, standing there,
Behind the woman who had hailed me,
I saw a girl with eyes astare
That looked in terror o'er my head —
And all at once my courage failed me ...
For now again, and sore adread,
My hands were hot upon a hare
That struggled, strangling in a snare ...
Then once more, as the girl stood clear
Before me, quaking cold with fear,
I saw the hare look from her eyes.

And when at last I turned to see
What held her scared, I saw a man,
A fat man with dull eyes aleer,
Within the shadow of the van;
And I was on the point to rise
To send him spinning 'mid the wheels,
And twist his neck between his heels,
And stop his leering grin with mud,
And would have done it in a tick;
When, suddenly alive with fright,
She started with red parted lips,
As though she guessed we'd come to grips,
And turned her black eyes full on me ...
And as I looked into their light
My heart forgot the lust of fight,
And something shot me to the quick
And ran like wildfire through my blood,
And tingled to my finger-tips —
And in a dazzling flash I knew
I'd never been alive before ...
And she was mine for evermore.

While all the others slept asnore
In caravan and tent that night,
I lay alone beside the fire
And stared into the blazing core,
With eyes that would not shut or tire,
Because the best of all was true,
And they looked still into the light
Of her eyes, burning ever bright
Within the brightest coal for me ...
Once more I saw her, as she started
And glanced at me with red lips parted;
And as she looked, the frightened hare
Had fled her eyes, and merrily
She smiled with fine teeth flashing white,
As though she too were happy-hearted ...
Then she had trembled suddenly
And dropped her eyes, as that fat man
Stepped from the shadow of the van
And joined the circle as the pot
Was lifted off and, piping hot,
The supper steamed in wooden bowls.
Yet she had hardly touched a bite,
And never raised her eyes all night
To mine again, but on the coals,
As I sat staring, she had stared —
The black curls shining round her head
From under the red kerchief tied
So nattily beneath her chin:
And she had stolen off to bed
Quite early, looking dazed and scared.
Then, all agape and sleepy-eyed,
Ere long the others had turned in,
And I was rid of that fat man
Who slouched away to his own van.

And now before the van I lay,
With sleepless eyes awaiting day,
And as I gazed into the glare
I heard behind a gentle stir,
And, turning round, I looked on her
Where she stood on the little stair
Outside the van with listening air —
And in her eyes the hunted hare ...
And then I saw her slip away,
A bundle underneath her arm,
Without a single glance at me.
I lay a moment wondering,
My heart athump like anything,
Then, fearing she should come to harm,
I rose and followed speedily
Where she had vanished in the night.
And as she heard my step behind,
She started and stopped dead with fright,
Then blundered on as if struck blind:
And now as I caught up with her,
Just as she took the moorland track,
I saw the hare's eyes big and black ...
She made as though she'd double back ...
But, when she looked into my eyes,
She stood quite still and did not stir ...
And picking up her fallen pack
I tucked it 'neath my arm, and she
Just took her luck quite quietly
As she must take what chance might come
And would not have it otherwise,
And walked into the night with me
Without a word across the fells.

And all about us through the night
The mists were stealing, cold and white,
Down every rushy syke and slack:
But soon the moon swung into sight,
And as we went my heart was light
And singing like a burn in flood,
And in my ears were tinkling bells;
My body was a rattled drum,
And fifes were shrilling through my blood
That summer night to think that she
Was walking through the world with me.

But when the air with dawn was chill,
As we were travelling down a hill
She broke the silence with low sobbing,
And told her tale, her bosom throbbing
As though her very heart was shaken
With fear she'd yet be overtaken ...
She'd always lived in caravans —
Her father's gay as any man's,
Grass-green picked out with red and yellow
And glittering brave with burnished brass
That sparkled in the sun like flame,
And window-curtains white as snow ...
But they had died ten years ago,
Her parents both, when fever came;
And they were buried side by side,
Somewhere beneath the wayside grass ...
In times of sickness they kept wide
Of towns and busybodies, so
No parson's or policeman's tricks
Should bother them when in a fix ...
Her father never could abide
A black coat or a blue, poor man ...
And so Long Dick, a kindly fellow
When you could keep him from the can,
And Meg, his easygoing wife,
Had taken her into their van
And kept her since her parents died ...
And she had lived a happy life
Until Fat Pete's young wife was taken ...
But, ever since, he'd pestered her ...
And she dared scarcely breathe or stir
Lest she should see his eyes aleer ...
And many a night she'd lain and shaken,
And very nearly died of fear,
Though safe enough within the van
With Mother Meg and her good man;
For, since Fat Pete was Long Dick's friend,
And they were thick and sweet as honey,
And Dick owed Pete a pot of money,
She knew too well how it must end ...
And she would rather lie stone-dead
Beneath the wayside grass than wed
With leering Pete, and live the life,
And die the death of his first wife ...
And so last night clean-daft with dread
She'd bundled up a pack and fled ...

When all the sobbing tale was out
She dried her eyes and looked about
As though she'd left all fear behind,
And out of sight were out of mind.
Then when the dawn was burning red,
I'm hungry as a hawk! she said,
And from the bundle took out bread:
And at the happy end of night
We sat together by a burn
And eat a thick slice turn by turn,
And laughed and kissed between each bite.

Then up again and on our way
We went and tramped the livelong day
The moorland trackways steep and rough,
Though there was little fear enough
That they would follow on our flight.

And then again a shiny night
Among the honey-scented heather,
We wandered in the moonblaze bright
Together through a land of light,
A lad and lass alone with life:
And merrily we laughed together
When, starting up from sleep, we heard
The cock-grouse talking to his wife —
And Old Fat Pete she called the bird.

Six months and more have cantered by,
And, winter past, we're out again —
We've left the fat and weatherwise
To keep their coops and reeking sties
And eat their fill of oven-pies,
While we win free and out again
To take potluck beneath the sky
With sun and moon and wind and rain:
Six happy months ... and yet at night
I've often wakened in affright
And looked upon her lying there
Beside me sleeping quietly,
Adread that when she waked I'd see
The hunted hare within her eyes.

And only last night as I slept
Beneath the shelter of a stack ...
My hands were hot upon a hare,
Half-strangled, struggling in the snare,
When suddenly her eyes shot back,
Startled and startling, big and black,
And, ere I knew, my grip was slack
And I was clutching empty air ...
Bolt-upright from my sleep I leapt ...
Her place was empty in the straw ...
And then with quaking heart I saw
That she was standing in the night,
A leveret cuddled to her breast ...
I spoke no word, but as the light
Through banks of Eastern cloud was breaking,
She turned and saw that I was waking,
And told me how she couldn't rest
And, rising in the night, she'd found
This baby hare crouched on the ground,
And she had nursed it quite a while,
But now she'd better let it go ...
Its mother would be fretting so ...
A mother's heart ...
I saw her smile
And look at me with tender eyes;
And as I looked into their light
My foolish, fearful heart grew wise ...
And now I know that never there
I'd see again the startled hare
Or need to dread the shades of night.