| ITS cloven hoofprint on the sand | |
| Will lead you—where? | |
| Into a phantasmagoric land— | |
| Beware! | |
| |
| There all the bright streams run up-hill. | 5 |
| The birds on every tree are still. | |
| But from stocks and stones, clear voices come | |
| That should be dumb. | |
| |
| If you have taken along a net, | |
| A noose, a prod, | 10 |
| You'll be waiting in the forest yet... | |
| Nid—nod! | |
| |
| In a virgin's lap the beast slept sound, | |
| They say ... but I— | |
| I think (Is anyone around?) | 15 |
| That's lust a lie! | |
| |
| If you have taken a musketoon | |
| To flinders 'twill flash 'neath the wizard moon. | |
| So I should take browned batter-cake, | |
| Hot-buttered inside, like foam to flake. | 20 |
| |
| And I should take an easy heart | |
| And a whimsical face, | |
| And a tied-up lunch of sandwich and tart, | |
| And spread a cloth in the open chase. | |
| And then I should pretend to snore... | 25 |
| |
| And I'd hear a snort and I'd hear a roar, | |
| The wind of a mane and a tail, and four | |
| Wild hoofs prancing the forest-floor. | |
| |
| And I'd open my eyes on a flashing horn— | |
| And see the Unicorn! | 30 |
| |
| Paladins fierce and virgins sweet... | |
| But he's never had anything to eat! | |
| Knights have tramped in their iron-mong'ry... | |
| But nobody thought—that's all!—he's hungry! | |
| |
ADDENDUM
Really hungry! Good Lord deliver us, | 35 |
| The Unicorn is not carnivorous! | |
