I don't know any tune from any other, <br />I couldn't sing a song if I were paid, <br />I couldn't for the ransom of a brother, <br />Hum a single thing that anybody played. <br />But I know one melody <br />That can stir the heart of me- <br />It's the mad and merry challenge of the horn ! <br />With the chime of hounds that follow, <br />And the cheer and rate and holloa <br />That can shake the very dewdrops from the thorn! <br />I couldn't make a fortune with a fiddle, <br />I scarce can sing a psalm-tune in a pew, <br />I couldn't lead a partner 'down the middle' <br />With a more than sporting chance of getting through. <br />I couldn't for my life <br />Play a cornet or a fife <br />And the flute was never any friend of mine; <br />But I do appreciate <br />When a yokel on a gate <br />Gives a holloa that can hold us to the line! <br />For everything is music when you hunt, <br />From the guttural ' Gar'r' on there!' of the Whip <br />To the' Tally-ho !' of some one up in front <br />Or the holloa of a herdsman in the dip; <br />The crash of post and rail <br />In a sort of running scale, <br />The thunder as the gallopers go by, <br />The ringing' For'ard on ! ' <br />That is swallowed up anon <br />In the chorus of the pack against the sky ! <br />So let others swear by Melba if they will, <br />By Crossley, Tetrazzini, and the rest; <br />I 'll be happy if I hear upon the hill <br />The voices of the ladies I love best- <br />The voices of a pack <br />Running hot upon his track, <br />And the cheer of one that saw the way he went! <br />When they hustle him along <br />Is there any grander song <br />Than the song of sixteen couple on a scent?<br /><br />William Henry Ogilvie<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-music-of-the-chase/
