Robert Laurence Binyon - Bahram The Hunter lyrics

When Bahram rode to the chase, Then saw ye his soul's delight Full on his kingly face. Who could his steed outpace? He swooped like a falcon's flight; Like a sunbeam that strikes from a cloud, Exulting and eager--browed, So rode he his reckless race. Bright flashed the pools at morn, And the sun o'er the mountains burned And gilded the antelope's horn In the plain, and the wild a** in scorn Of the hunter the hard soil spurned, Snuffing the wind, most fleet Of quarries, the beat of whose feet Is music to kings' ears borne. Bahram smiled as he rode On the gold--bright sands; debonair Was his look, and his glad voice flowed. White was the horse he bestrode, And over his black beard and hair The white--furred cap on his head Was hung with ta**els of red: On his mantle a gold sun glowed. And round him glittering gay Rode princes and lords; he turned To each with a word to say In his royal courtesy; nay, Not a heart but joyously burned To be near to a heart so great, And was fain to be proved its mate In a glorious deed this day. But the king's men shouted; for lo! The wild a** afar they espied In the shallowing valley below, Where bright springs fathomless flow. He was shaking his neck in pride, And his heels the dust upthrew: Then Bahram shot forth to pursue, As a bolt that is shot from a bow. The princes of Persia spurred, But he left them all; this day There was neither second nor third To the king. Now a startled bird From the low thicket fluttered away; Then the plain smoked up in a cloud Behind them, and thundered aloud; Yet never the king they neared. Swifter the wild a** fled, But swifter the king came nigher, Wherever those fleet heels led; Now soft upon mosses he sped, Now the hoofs upon stone struck fire; Till the wild a** turned in his fear For an instant, and showed him clear The eyeball strained in his head. Then the princes shouted as one, For they heard the king's glad shout, And saw his spear raised in the sun, And the light o'er the long shaft run; As they looked for the steel to flash out On a sudden the place was bare; Bahram was no more there, And the wild a** galloped alone. Pale they spurred o'er the ground, Then reined in close with a cry, Gazing in terror around: Neither king nor horse they found. But before them laughed to the sky A pool of springs that well From the streams under earth and swell Through her secret caverns profound. The women of Ctesiphon wail, And the young men cry in the street, ``No more now in the Vale Of Heroes shall Bahram hail His quarry of glancing feet, No more shall his voice delight Our hearts through the battle, and smite The ranks of the Tartar pale!'' The mother of Bahram hath made Amid pillars his empty tomb Of porphyry, jasper and jade. Clear gums in fire she hath frayed To cloud it in idle fume. Not riches from isles of the dawn Nor spices from far Damaun Lure hither the strong--winged shade. Tomb nor prison shall tame Bahram the hunter's soul. As of old to the chase he came, He is turned not aside from his aim, He is mixed with the streams that roll Unending as man's desire, That shall not abate of its fire Till the whole world crumble in flame.