HILDA REID (SOMERVILLE)
Reading edition
THE MAGNANIMITY OF BEASTS
MAN—you who think you really know The beast you gaze on in the show, Nor see with what consummate art Each animal enacts its part— How different do they all appear The moment that you are not there! Then, fawns with liquid eyes a-flame Pursue the bear, their nightly game; Wolves shiver as the rabbit roars And stretches his terrific claws; While trembling tigers dare not sleep For passionate, relentless sheep, And frantic eagles through the skies Are chased by angry butterflies. —But beasts would suffer all confusions Before they shattered man’s illusions.