Equal to my master among men.
When we flew the hedge and ditch together—
'Good lass!'—how it made me prick my ear!
Horn and hound, bright steel and polished leather,
Long ago—if you but saw me here!"
Pitiless wind and heaving surge,
A fevered foot and a running sore,
The siren's shriek for a funeral dirge,
And a hobble to death on the further shore.
"Master, it was long ago you bought me;