While faintly through my withered veins once more

Leaps the triumphant thrill I knew of yore.

II.

I shot an arrow through the wood one day

In idle sport, and following where it led,

I found a doe that I had raised and fed,

Stricken, and bleeding fast her life away,

Her tender fawn transfixed beside her lay;

One random shaft two happy lives had sped.

The dry leaves rustled to my startled tread,