The Vagabond and Other Poems from Punch by R. C. Lehmann
page 39 of 84 (46%)
page 39 of 84 (46%)
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The dragon who flew so free,
The last of his horrible scaly race Who settled and made his nesting place Some hundreds of thousands of years ago. One day, as the light was falling low And the turbulent wind was still, In a stony hollow, Where none dared follow, Beyond the ridge on the gorse-clad summit, the summit of Winter Hill! The news went round in the camp that night; it was Dickon who brought it first How the wonderful dragon, The fiery dragon, On his terrified eyes had burst. "I was out," he said, "for a fat young buck, But never a touch I had of luck; And still I wandered and wandered on Till all the best of the day was gone; When, suddenly, lo, in a flash of flame Full over the ridge a green head came, A green head flapped with a snarling lip, And a long tongue set with an arrow's tip. I own I didn't stand long at bay, But I cast my arrows and bow away, And I cast my coat, and I changed my plan, And forgot the buck, and away I ran-- And, oh, but my heart was chill: For still as I ran I heard the bellow |
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