The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd Centenary Edition. With a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. Thomas Thomson ... Poems and Life. With Many Illustrative Engravings [by James Hogg] |
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 | The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd |  |
Thou ne'er hast seen the combat grand
Of two wild steeds of southern land,
Rivals in love: how grows their rage,
And shakes the fen when they engage;
Or two wild bulls of bison brood,
The milk-white sovereigns of the wood—
And the dire echoes that outyell
The grovelling, bellowing sounds of hell:
To view these savages aloof,
Rending the ground with horn and hoof,
Or meet to gore, and foam, and die,
Is scarce a sight for maiden's eye.
Or two huge monsters of the wave
Rearing their forms, with lash and lave,
Far up the air; their snort and howl—
Then, grappling, sink with groan and growl,
While the red ocean boils ahight,
And nature sickens at the sight,
Of two wild steeds of southern land,
Rivals in love: how grows their rage,
And shakes the fen when they engage;
Or two wild bulls of bison brood,
The milk-white sovereigns of the wood—
And the dire echoes that outyell
The grovelling, bellowing sounds of hell:
To view these savages aloof,
Rending the ground with horn and hoof,
Or meet to gore, and foam, and die,
Is scarce a sight for maiden's eye.
Or two huge monsters of the wave
Rearing their forms, with lash and lave,
Far up the air; their snort and howl—
Then, grappling, sink with groan and growl,
While the red ocean boils ahight,
And nature sickens at the sight,
| The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd | |