The boy on the famous gray pony, <br />Just bidding good-bye at the door, <br />Plucking up maiden heart for the fences <br />Where his brother won honour of yore. <br /> <br />The walk to 'the Meet' with fair children, <br />And women as gentle as gay,- <br />Ah! how do we male hogs in armour <br />Deserve such companions as they? <br /> <br />The afternoon's wander to windward, <br />To meet the dear boy coming back; <br />And to catch, down the turns of the valley, <br />The last weary chime of the pack. <br /> <br />The climb homeward by park and by moorland, <br />And through the fir forests again, <br />While the south-west wind roars in the gloaming, <br />Like an ocean of seething champagne. <br /> <br />And at night the septette of Beethoven, <br />And the grandmother by in her chair, <br />And the foot of all feet on the sofa <br />Beating delicate time to the air. <br /> <br />Ah, God! a poor soul can but thank Thee <br />For such a delectable day! <br />Though the fury, the fool, and the swindler, <br />To-morrow again have their way! <br /> <br /> <br />Eversley, 6th November 1872.<br /><br />Charles Kingsley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-delectable-day/
