| Love like a Hare | |
| This is the subject of the rule book | |
| of the work of a master of hounds, where it is he will be: | |
| the pursuit of a leveret which he would chase out | |
| 4 | from the bush where it would be, great trouble, |
| grey one with long ears, by a copse of green oaks, | |
| speckled-cheeked, swift course leaping mounds. | |
| She is what hunting dogs long for, | |
| 8 | song in unison, wolf's leap, |
| hermaphrodite who would give a slow weak dog | |
| aching muscles on a clay bank, | |
| stubby-tailed one with short chin who feeds on shoots, | |
| 12 | I know the fate of the grey one with white breeches. |
| Dregs of new stalks above a stream, | |
| ... socks, with a house of straw and wild offspring, | |
| a trouserful of dung in frost, | |
| 16 | semi-tame creature of the thick gorse clump, |
| wanderer on the edge of a strip of corn, | |
| shoo, you short speckled mad cat! | |
| Mountainous lair, head-dress of arrows, | |
| 20 | wild grey white-limbed young goat, |
| speedy from its house over hoar-frost, | |
| a thrust from the tip of a boot of hair. | |
| Let her be pursued, a course of pursuit, | |
| 24 | in front of men, roller of the wind, |
| to stray one way and another, | |
| from wood to fair bright sloping field, | |
| from one cunning place to another, | |
| 28 | from amongst the dew to tangled undergrowth, |
| unstable mind, and she loves corn, | |
| if God allows, sprinter of the earth, | |
| her intentions are ever-changing, | |
| 32 | wild thrust, speedy from her lair, |
| cat's leg, heading for the shelter of a hillock, | |
| deep stronghold, she is able to return | |
| to the house from whence she arose, | |
| 36 | where the sun shines, if she has had food. |
| Sleepless for the sake of a passionate girl, | |
| feeble ability, I am just the same: | |
| my predicament on account of my darling, | |
| 40 | my learning was to woo my sweetheart, |
| my obsession when I was jealous, | |
| my painful intent, my grievous mind, | |
| it arose from remembrance of an ode, | |
| 44 | from the grove where it had been well off, |
| from the bed of love, fine bright girl, | |
| from the wine-hall of a gay southern lord. | |
| I hunted it, fruitless huntsman, | |
| 48 | to chase out love, lovely colour of stars, |
| from she of the fair forehead | |
| from the square court yonder, embittered speech. | |
| What good to me (it never relented) | |
| 52 | was constant pain without a single hour's relief? |
| Her love ran, clever girl who causes grief, | |
| God's blessings, the run of a doe, | |
| the breadth of two feet (limbs which cause lust), | |
| 56 | thief, from her mind back to its place. |
| It will not willingly stay, wherever I put it, | |
| except where it was binding a wound, | |
| it will not lurk in a secluded spot, | |
| 60 | it will not get caught in the mouth of a net. |
| She the colour of snow in a glade | |
| cannot move love, the intrepid mind; | |
| this conflict [is] a crop of fear, | |
| 64 | this love will not go, by whatever name it is known, |
| from its habitat, its purpose is a mad course, | |
| the girl's claim, it is fixed there. | |
| The land of Gwgon of the Red Sword, | |
| 68 | great straight burden, he of shining arms, |
| tonight I cannot sleep a wink, | |
| sick pining, unless I go there. | |
| She of the lovely hue has caused long grief, | |
| 72 | old thief just like a nightmare. |