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The Hermit Bull

Edward S. Sorenson

They told me at the station that,
    When gilghi holes were full,
    There roamed a hermit bull,
And if I spied him on the flat,
    I’d “better take a pull.”

A savage brute, upon his plot
    No trespass he’d allow,
  Nor to man’s will would bow,
And so disgruntled he would not
    Keep comp’ny with a cow.

I trudged away, nor feared the least,
    Where friendly timber grew,
    For thereabouts I knew
I was a winner if the beast
    Should seek an interview.

Ere noon the trees were left behind,
    A wet plain lay before,
    Whereon from shore to shore
A circumspective eye could find
    Tall grass, and nothing more.

Beyond, in wild magnificence,
    Was many a rugged stack,
    Where tangled scrubs looked black;
So I advanced with confidence
    Along the bridle-track.

But half-way towards the sheltered camps,
    Where my day’s stunt would close,
    A horny demon rose
And turned two glaring motor lamps
    Upon my blanching nose.

Within ten paces, and with nought
  But wet clay stiff as glue,
    And long grass ‘tween us two,
We stared amazed as twain who thought,
    “Just fancy meeting you!”

The trees or logs that I might gain
    With that brief start of him
    Were scarce as seraphim;
Nor was a hole upon that plain
    Where I could take a swim.

He switched his tail and shook his head
    In what was, I can say,
    A most unfriendly way;
And he was big—a quadruped
    Who filed me with dismay.

I stood transfixed, and tried to think
    How I might disappear
  Amid the grasses near,
Or make that bovine hermit shrink
    From me in sudden fear.

I focussed him to some extent
    With my two quaking eyes,
    The brute to mesmerise;
But he moved up as if he meant
    To toss me to the skies.

I heard the snort of rage that scorns
    Man’s trickery and grit;
    Then, as he charged full split,
I threw the swag upon his horns
    And left him goring it.

Across the plain, with noodle bared,
    Just here and there I set
    A foot ‘mid grass and wet—
I was so desperately scared
    That I am running yet.

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