| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | To Manon, Comparing Her to a Falcon | | By Wilfred Scawen Blunt (1840–1922) |
| | | BRAVE as a falcon and as merciless, | |
| With bright eyes watching still the world, thy prey, | |
| I saw thee pass in thy lone majesty, | |
| Untamed, unmated, high above the press. | |
| The dull crowd gazed at thee. It could not guess | 5 |
| The secret of thy proud aërial way, | |
| Or read in thy mute face the soul which lay | |
| A prisoner there in chains of tenderness. | |
| Lo, thou art captured. In my hand to-day | |
| I hold thee, and awhile thou deignest to be | 10 |
| Pleased with my jesses. I would fain beguile | |
| My foolish heart to think thou lovest me. See, | |
| I dare not love thee quite. A little while | |
| And thou shalt sail back heavenwards. Woe is me! | | | | |
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