Page:The Muse in Arms, Osborn (ed), 1917.djvu/245

 LXXXVI

OD gave the horse for man to ride,

And steel wherewith to fight,

And wine to swell his soul with pride

And women for delight:

But a better gift than these all four

Was when He made the fighting boar.

The horse is filled with spirit rare,

His heart is bold and free;

The bright steel flashes in the air,

And glitters hungrily.

But these were little use before

The Lord He made the fighting boar.

The ruby wine doth banish care,

But it confounds the head;

The fickle fair is light as air,

And makes the heart bleed red;

But wine nor love can tempt us more

When we may hunt the fighting boar.

203