Ranolf and Amohia —— A South-Sea Day-Dream

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ISBN: 9781331675457 出版年：2016 页码：515 Alfred Domett Forgotten Books

Ranolf and Amohia.Or ring-like tusks upthrusting throughThe notches of his foaming lips,By constant whetting planed awayTo chisel-sharpness at their tips:It weakened him - the knife-dig, too,He caught when first commenced the fray;When, as in haste I sprang astrideThe narrowed gully - just a ditchWith flowering koromiko rich -Between my feet the villain drove,And fierce, with short indignant sniffs,And grunts like muttering thunder, stroveTo gain his haunts beyond the cliffs,And foil the foes he fled from, yet defied.But Nim, my glorious bull-dog! Nim,My mighty hunter of the boar,Who never recked of life or limbThat old antagonist before!That rip has finished his career -His last boar-fight is fought; no moreHe'll come to greet me as of yore,Wriggling his lithe spine till his tailWhipped his black muzzle in the excessOf cringing canine happiness;No more his genuine love expressWith such dumb signs and tokens clear,Mock bites and mouthings of the hand,Easy as words to understand.Strange, a mere dog should be so dear!But he is dead, and - done with, must we say?Poor victim of this universal demon-playOf Life - my fate to-morrow, his to-day,