<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Bull</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">See an old unhappy bull.</p><p class="line">Sick in soul and body both.</p><p class="line">Slouching in the undergrowth</p><p class="line">Of the forest beautiful,</p><p class="line">Banished from the herd he led.</p><p class="line">Bulls and cows a thousand head.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Cranes and gaudy parrots go</p><p class="line">Up and down the burning sky;</p><p class="line">Tree-top cats purr drowsily</p><p class="line">In the dim-day green below;</p><p class="line">And troops of monkeys, nutting, some,</p><p class="line">All disputing, go and come;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And things abominable sit</p><p class="line">Picking offal buck or swine,</p><p class="line">On the mess and over it</p><p class="line">Burnished flies and beetles shine,</p><p class="line">And spiders big as bladders lie</p><p class="line">Under hemlocks ten foot high;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And a dotted serpent curled</p><p class="line">Round and round and round a tree,</p><p class="line">Yellowing its greenery,</p><p class="line">Keeps a watch on all the world,</p><p class="line">All the world and this old bull</p><p class="line">In the forest beautiful.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Bravely by his fall he came:</p><p class="line">One he led, a bull of blood</p><p class="line">Newly come to lustihood,</p><p class="line">Fought and put his prince to shame,</p><p class="line">Snuffed and pawed the prostrate head</p><p class="line">Tameless even while it bled.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">There they left him, every one,</p><p class="line">Left him there without a lick,</p><p class="line">Left him for the birds to pick,</p><p class="line">Left him there for carrion,</p><p class="line">Vilely from their bosom cast</p><p class="line">Wisdom, worth and love at last.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">When the lion left his lair</p><p class="line">And roared his beauty through the hills,</p><p class="line">And the vultures pecked their quills</p><p class="line">And flew into the middle air,</p><p class="line">Then this prince no more to reign</p><p class="line">Came to life and lived again.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He snuffed the herd in far retreat,</p><p class="line">He saw the blood upon the ground,</p><p class="line">And snuffed the burning airs around</p><p class="line">Still with beevish odours sweet,</p><p class="line">While the blood ran down his head</p><p class="line">And his mouth ran slaver red.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Pity him, this fallen chief,</p><p class="line">All his splendour, all his strength,</p><p class="line">All his body's breadth and length</p><p class="line">Dwindled down with shame and grief,</p><p class="line">Half the bull he was before,</p><p class="line">Bones and leather, nothing more.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">See him standing dewlap-deep</p><p class="line">In the rushes at the lake,</p><p class="line">Surly, stupid, half asleep,</p><p class="line">Waiting for his heart to break</p><p class="line">And the birds to join the flies</p><p class="line">Feasting at his bloodshot eyes;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Standing with his head hung down</p><p class="line">In a stupor, dreaming things:</p><p class="line">Green savannas, jungles brown,</p><p class="line">Battlefields and bellowings,</p><p class="line">Bulls undone and lions dead</p><p class="line">And vultures flapping overhead.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Dreaming things: of days he spent</p><p class="line">With his mother gaunt and lean</p><p class="line">In the valley warm and green,</p><p class="line">Full of baby wonderment,</p><p class="line">Blinking out of silly eyes</p><p class="line">At a hundred mysteries;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Dreaming over once again</p><p class="line">How he wandered with a throng</p><p class="line">Of bulls and cows a thousand strong,</p><p class="line">Wandered on from plain to plain,</p><p class="line">Up the hill and down the dale,</p><p class="line">Always at his mother's tail;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">How he lagged behind the herd,</p><p class="line">Lagged and tottered, weak of limb,</p><p class="line">And she turned and ran to him</p><p class="line">Blaring at the loathly bird</p><p class="line">Stationed always in the skies,</p><p class="line">Waiting for the flesh that dies.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Dreaming maybe of a day</p><p class="line">When her drained and drying paps</p><p class="line">Turned him to the sweets and saps,</p><p class="line">Richer fountains by the way,</p><p class="line">And she left the bull she bore</p><p class="line">And he looked to her no more;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And his little frame grew stout,</p><p class="line">And his little legs grew strong,</p><p class="line">And the way was not so long;</p><p class="line">And his little horns came out,</p><p class="line">And he played at butting trees</p><p class="line">And boulder-stones and tortoises,</p><p class="line">Joined a game of knobby skulls</p><p class="line">With the youngsters of his year,</p><p class="line">All the other little bulls,</p><p class="line">Learning both to bruise and bear,</p><p class="line">Learning how to stand a shock</p><p class="line">Like a little bull of rock.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Dreaming of a day less dim,</p><p class="line">Dreaming of a time less far,</p><p class="line">When the faint but certain star</p><p class="line">Of destiny burned clear for him,</p><p class="line">And a fierce and wild unrest</p><p class="line">Broke the quiet of his breast,</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And the gristles of his youth</p><p class="line">Hardened in his comely pow,</p><p class="line">And he came to fighting growth,</p><p class="line">Beat his bull and won his cow,</p><p class="line">And flew his tail and trampled off</p><p class="line">Past the tallest, vain enough,</p><p class="line">And curved about in splendour full</p><p class="line">And curved again and snuffed the airs</p><p class="line">As who should say Come out who dares!</p><p class="line">And all beheld a bull, a Bull,</p><p class="line">And knew that here was surely one</p><p class="line">That backed for no bull, fearing none.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And the leader of the herd</p><p class="line">Looked and saw, and beat the ground,</p><p class="line">And shook the forest with his sound,</p><p class="line">Bellowed at the loathly bird</p><p class="line">Stationed always in the skies,</p><p class="line">Waiting for the flesh that dies.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Dreaming, this old bull forlorn,</p><p class="line">Surely dreaming of the hour</p><p class="line">When he came to sultan power,</p><p class="line">And they owned him master-horn,</p><p class="line">Chiefest bull of all among</p><p class="line">Bulls and cows a thousand strong;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And in all the tramping herd</p><p class="line">Not a bull that barred his way,</p><p class="line">Not a cow that said him nay,</p><p class="line">Not a bull or cow that erred</p><p class="line">In the furnace of his look</p><p class="line">Dared a second, worse rebuke;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Not in all the forest wide,</p><p class="line">Jungle, thicket, pasture, fen,</p><p class="line">Not another dared him then,</p><p class="line">Dared him and again defied;</p><p class="line">Not a sovereign buck or boar</p><p class="line">Came a second time for more;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Not a serpent that survived</p><p class="line">Once the terrors of his hoof</p><p class="line">Risked a second time reproof,</p><p class="line">Came a second time and lived,</p><p class="line">Not a serpent in its skin</p><p class="line">Came again for discipline;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Not a leopard bright as flame,</p><p class="line">Flashing fingerhooks of steel,</p><p class="line">That a wooden tree might feel,</p><p class="line">Met his fury once and came</p><p class="line">For a second reprimand,</p><p class="line">Not a leopard in the land ;</p><p class="line">Not a lion of them all,</p><p class="line">Not a lion of the hills,</p><p class="line">Hero of a thousand kills,</p><p class="line">Dared a second fight and fall,</p><p class="line">Dared that ram terrific twice,</p><p class="line">Paid a second time the price.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Pity him, this dupe of dream,</p><p class="line">Leader of the herd again</p><p class="line">Only in his daft old brain,</p><p class="line">Once again the bull supreme</p><p class="line">And bull enough to bear the part</p><p class="line">Only in his tameless heart.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Pity him that he must wake;</p><p class="line">Even now the swarm of flies</p><p class="line">Blackening his bloodshot eyes</p><p class="line">Bursts and blusters round the lake,</p><p class="line">Scattered from the feast half-fed,</p><p class="line">By great shadows overhead;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And the dreamer turns away</p><p class="line">From his visionary herds</p><p class="line">And his splendid yesterday,</p><p class="line">Turns to meet the loathly birds</p><p class="line">Flocking round him from the skies,</p><p class="line">Waiting for the flesh that dies.</p></div></body></html> · Great War