The Wild Thing

It ran like a wild thing

So fleet-flung the foot

The dust of primal passages

Sun-tangled its coat.

Heeding no master and

Loving no creature

I saw it knew my kind

By the scorn in each feature.

### For an instant it stopped, fear-chilled, I stood numb.

### But the wild thing fled on,

### King in its kingdom.

### The wild thing fled on

### And I cursed it its freedom.

An urge took my senses

To fathom its soul

The spirit that had won the beast

So noble a role.

It had but to trust and

I’d conquer its mystery,

But the beast had known my kind

And would safeguard its history.

### For an instant it stopped, secure in its kingdom.

### Then the wild thing fled on.

### I cursed it its freedom.

### The wild thing fled on

### And I cursed it its wisdom.