Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/44

 HEBE

, what a beauty! Half-shut eyes,—

Hide all buff, and without a break

To the tail's brown tuft that mostly lies

So quiet one thinks her scarce awake;

But pass too near, one step too free,

You find her slumber a devil's truce:

Up comes that paw,—all plush, you see,—

Out four claws, fit for Satan's use.

'Ware! Just a sleeve's breadth closer then,

And your last appearance on any stage!

Loll, if you like, by Daniel's Den,

But clear and away from Hebe's cage:—

That 's Hebe! listen to that purr,

Rumbling as from the ground below:

Strange, when the ring begins to stir,

The fleshings always vex her so.

You think 't were a rougher task by far

To tame her mate with the sooty mane? 24