Poem by Ogden Nash

The Solitary Huntsman

The solitary huntsman
   No coat of pink doth wear,
But midnight black from cap to spur
   Upon his midnight mare.
He drones a tuneless jingle
   In lieu of tally-ho:
“I’ll catch a fox
   And put him in a box
       And never let him go.”

The solitary huntsman,
   He follows silent hounds.
No horn proclaims his joyless sport,
   And never a hoofbeat sounds.
His hundred hounds, his thousands,
   Their master’s will they know:
To catch a fox
   And put him in a box
       And never let him go.

For all the fox’s doubling
   They track him to his den.
The chase may fill a morning,
   Or threescore years and ten.
The huntsman never sated
   Screaks to his saddlebow,
“I’ll catch another fox
   And put him in a box
       And never let him go.”

1. Song of the Open Road
2. Crossing the Border
3. Further Reflections on Parsley
4. The Parent
5. Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer

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