Dramatic Scenes, Sonnets, and Other Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Mitford, Mary Russell (1787-1855)

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With hound and horn and huntsman's call
They chase the fallow deer;—
And thou, the noblest of them all,
Why dost thou loiter here?

Thou canst not deem within her bower
Thine own true love to see;—
Dost thou not know at matin hour
I ne'er can come to thee?

My sister's voice is on the stair,
All in her maiden glee;
My mother's flitting every where,
And calling still on me.

324

My father's by the southern wall,
Pruning the old vine tree;
My brothers playing in the hall;—
And all are wanting me.

Then off, and mount thy gallant steed
To hunt the fallow deer;
Off, off, and join the chase with speed,
Nor loiter longer here.

At eventide my mother sits,
Her knitting on her knee,
And wakes by starts, and dreams by fits;—
But never dreams of me.

At eventide my sister fair
Steals to the great oak tree;
I may not tell who meets her there,—
But nought want they of me.

325

At eventide, beside the bowl,
With some old comrade free,
My father many a song doth troll
But never thinks on me.

Off, then, with hound, and echoing horn
To chase the fallow deer;—
Nor deem again at peep of morn
To meet thy true-love here.