one by William Rose Benet

 

 

 

How To Catch Unicorns

 

Its cloven hoofprint on the sand
      Will lead you—where?
            Into a phantasmagoric land—
                Beware!

There all the bright streams run up-hill.
              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,
       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?)
               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.

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…

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!

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,
         The Unicorn is not carnivorous!
























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