Epitaph on a Hare

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h3>EPITAPH ON A HARE.</h3> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Here lies, whom hound did ne'er pursue,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Nor swifter greyhound follow,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Whose foot ne'er tainted morning dew,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Nor ear heard huntsman's halloo;<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Old Tiney, surliest of his kind,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Who, nursed with tender care,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And to domestic bounds confined,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Was still a wild Jack hare.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Though duly from my hand he took<br/></span> <span class="i2">His pittance every night,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He did it with a jealous look,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And, when he could, would bite.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">His diet was of wheaten bread<br/></span> <span class="i2">And milk, and oats, and straw;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thistles, or lettuces instead,<br/></span> <span class="i2">With sand to scour his maw.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">On twigs of hawthorn he regaled,<br/></span> <span class="i2">On pippins' russet peel,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And, when his juicy salads fail'd,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Sliced carrot pleased him well.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A Turkey carpet was his lawn,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Whereon he loved to bound,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To skip and gambol like a fawn,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And swing his rump around.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">His frisking was at evening hours,<br/></span> <span class="i2">For then he lost his fear,<br/></span> <span class="i0">But most before approaching showers,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Or when a storm drew near.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Eight years and five round rolling moons<br/></span> <span class="i2">He thus saw steal away,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Dozing out all his idle noons,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And every night at play.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I kept him for his humour's sake,<br/></span> <span class="i2">For he would oft beguile<br/></span> <span class="i0">My heart of thoughts that made it ache,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And force me to a smile.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But now beneath this walnut shade<br/></span> <span class="i2">He finds his long last home,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And waits, in snug concealment laid,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Till gentler Puss shall come.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He, still more aged, feels the shocks,<br/></span> <span class="i2">From which no care can save,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And, partner once of Tiney's box,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Must soon partake his grave.<br/></span></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />