The Tamed Deer
Like as a huntsman after weary chase
Seeing the game from him escaped away,
Sits down to rest him in some shady place,
With panting hounds beguiled of their prey:
So, after long pursuit and vain assay,
When I all weary had the chase forsook,
The gentle deer returned the self-same way,
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.
There she beholding me with milder look,
Sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide;
Till I in hand her yet half trembling took,
And with her own good-will her firmly tied.
Strange thing, me seemed, to see a beast so wild
So goodly won, with her own will beguiled.
by Edmund Spenser 1552-1599
Photo taken by me in India.
2 comments:
I love Spenser . Did The Faire Queen
for a dissertation at university. The absolute control of the rhyme is brilliant and every word precisely placed.
Thank you! I'll feature him again at some point, with an extract from his longer poems.
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