Songs

The Grey Wolf

by Harry T. Burleigh

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Text

The Grey Wolf
English source: Arthur Symons

The grey wolf comes again : I had made fast
The door with chains ; how has the grey wolf passed
My threshold ? I have nothing left to give :
Go from me now, grey wolf, and let me live !
I have fed you once, given all you would, given all
I had to give, I have been prodigal ;
I am poor now, the table is but spread
With water and a little wheaten bread ;
You have taken all I ever had from me :
Go from me now, grey wolf, and let me be !

The grey wolf, crouching by the bolted door,
Waits, watching for his food upon the floor ;
I see the old hunger and the old thirst for blood
Rise up, under his eye-balls, like a flood :
What shall I do that the grey wolf may go ?
This time, I have no store of meat to throw ;
He waits ; but I have nothing left, and I stand
Helpless, and his eyes fasten on my hand.
O grey wolf, grey wolf, will you not depart,
Unless I feed you with my heart?

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