Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | ||
232
SONNET.—CONCEALED CHARACTER.
Ruffle him not by wrong, and he will keepAs tranquil as the sunbeam in a brook,
Where the winds seldom whisper, and scarce look—
A season still of calm, akin to sleep!
Yet hath he in him fiery qualities,
That need but provocation for the blaze,
And, of a sudden, will his spirit rise,
The wanton or the heedless to amaze.
Sport loves he, and he will not heed your jeer,
If still he deems no malice taints your mirth;
But, with his first suspicion, leaps to birth
The unwonted anger, unallied to fear—
As sudden, under wrong, reveals his ire,
As smit by hostile steel the flint gives fire.
Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | ||