by Arthur Symons (1865 - 1945)
The grey wolf See original
Language: English
The grey wolf comes again : I had made fast
The door with chains ; how has the grey wolf passed
My threshold ? I have nothing left to give :
Go from me now, grey wolf, and let me live !
I have fed you once, given all you would, given all
I had to give, I have been prodigal ;
I am poor now, the table is but spread
With water and a little wheaten bread ;
You have taken all I ever had from me :
Go from me now, grey wolf, and let me be !
The grey wolf, crouching by the bolted door,
Waits, watching for his food upon the floor ;
I see the old hunger and the old thirst for blood
Rise up, under his eye-balls, like a flood :
What shall I do that the grey wolf may go ?
This time, I have no store of meat to throw ;
He waits ; but I have nothing left, and I stand
Helpless, and his eyes fasten on my hand.
O grey wolf, grey wolf, will you not depart,
... , unless I feed you with my heart?
Composition:
- Set to music by Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866 - 1949), "The grey wolf", 1915, published 1915, copyright © 1915 [ high voice and piano ], G. Ricordi
Text Authorship:
- by Arthur Symons (1865 - 1945), "The grey wolf", appears in Poems of Arthur Symons, Volume 2, in The Loom of Dreams, first published 1914
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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-31
Line count: 20
Word count: 188