'Lay me in a cushioned chair; <br />Carry me, ye four, <br />With cushions here and cushions there, <br />To see the world once more. <br /> <br />'To stable and to kennel go; <br />Bring what is there to bring; <br />Lead my Lollard to and fro, <br />Or gently in a ring. <br /> <br />'Put the chair upon the grass: <br />Bring Rody and his hounds, <br />That I may contented pass <br />From these earthly bounds.' <br /> <br />His eyelids droop, his head falls low, <br />His old eyes cloud with dreams; <br />The sun upon all things that grow <br />Falls in sleepy streams. <br /> <br />Brown Lollard treads upon the lawn, <br />And to the armchair goes, <br />And now the old man's dreams are gone, <br />He smooths the long brown nose. <br /> <br />And now moves many a pleasant tongue <br />Upon his wasted hands, <br />For leading aged hounds and young <br />The huntsman near him stands. <br /> <br />'Huntsmam Rody, blow the horn, <br />Make the hills reply.' <br />The huntsman loosens on the morn <br />A gay wandering cry. <br /> <br />Fire is in the old man's eyes, <br />His fingers move and sway, <br />And when the wandering music dies <br />They hear him feebly say, <br /> <br />'Huntsman Rody, blow the horn, <br />Make the hills reply.' <br />'I cannot blow upon my horn, <br />I can but weep and sigh.' <br /> <br />Servants round his cushioned place <br />Are with new sorrow wrung; <br />Hounds are gazing on his face, <br />Aged hounds and young. <br /> <br />One blind hound only lies apart <br />On the sun-smitten grass; <br />He holds deep commune with his heart: <br />The moments pass and pass: <br /> <br />The blind hound with a mournful din <br />Lifts slow his wintry head; <br />The servants bear the body in; <br />The hounds wail for the dead.<br /><br />William Butler Yeats<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-ballad-of-the-foxhunter/
