A Runnable Stag

"Let your gelding be: if you check or chide

He stumbles at once and you're out of the hunt;

For three hundred gentlemen, able to ride,

On hunters accustomed to bear the brunt,

Accustomed to bear the brunt,

Are after the runnable stag, the stag,

The runnable stag with his kingly crop,

Brow, bay and tray and three on top,

The right, the runnable stag."

By perilous paths in coomb and dell,

The heather, the rocks, and the river-bed,

The pace grew hot, for the scent lay well,

And a runnable stag goes right ahead,

The quarry went right ahead —

Ahead, ahead, and fast and far;

His antlered crest, his cloven hoof,

Brow, bay and tray and three aloof,

The stag, the runnable stag.