--George Crabbe
unicorn, milk-white, amid the furze, Harried by discombobulating curs.
You hunt the unicorn with horns and hounds, The way you hunt the hart or hunt the fox,
Along the pines that mark the forest's bounds To where the river falls between the rocks: There, at the furthest corner of your grounds, Near certain neolithic burial mounds, You net him in a web of soundless sounds And shut his spirit in an iron box,
Shut up his spirit in an iron box And bind the box with seven chains of steel And chain the chains with seven silver locks And lock the locks with seven golden keys And hang the keys upon a crystal wheel And hide the wheel among the river rocks And tell your secret to the stuttering breeze, And turn and take whichever path you please That forks and fades and disappears beneath the tallest trees.
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