David Osborne Hamilton

From “Hoofs and Haloes”

OUT in the hot sun I saw Satan stand:

He stroked the peaches with his finger-tips,

And burst the melons open in his hand,

And squirted the fat grapes between his lips.

He cracked an apple, and deep in the rift

Of snowy meat his yellow teeth he thrust.

A daisy from the grass he plucked and sniffed—

His fiery breath soon charred it into dust.

He pinched the purple plums, and playfully

Took up his tail and twirled it round and round

To lash the gold leaves from a maple-tree,

And laughed—the birds fled screaming at the sound.

He swung the boughs, and with his sharp horns pricked

The pears as they went swinging through the air,

And drove his hoof into the ground, and kicked,

Stirring the damp earth through the grasses there;

Then tore the tangled undergrowth apart

Till in its shadow he was deftly placed,

And stretched and said: “I marvel at God’s art!

The earth could not be formed more to my taste.”