

DEFEAT 



of the river — 

 Deepest hole of all and blackest — 

 Lurked the King of all the pike-tribe. 

 Very old ; but all the fiercer, 

 Since he knew he could not live long. 

 Lurked for prey and not for pleasure ; 

 And his armor green and golden 

 Flashed, whene'er the sunlight struck him ; 

 But it struck him very rarely. 

 Time had taught, had brought him knowledge, 

 Taught him how the bait most tempting 

 Means the bitterest woe to biters. 

 Such he long had shunned — with anger — 

 When his dreams by such were troubled. 

 But, at last, there came a dweller 

 Of the forest to this river ; 

 One whose brows of raven blackness 



Many winters and some sorrows 

 Had begun to snow or silver. 

 e, from youth, had hunted battle 

 With a foe supremely worthy 

 Of his craft and strength and valor. 

 Soon he spied the lurking monarch ; 

 Saw his risings and his plunges ; 

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