Master

From Songs of Action (1898).

   Master went a-hunting,
      When the leaves were falling;
   We saw him on the bridle path,
      We heard him gaily calling.
'Oh master, master, come you back,
For I have dreamed a dream so black!'
   A glint of steel from bit and heel,
      The chestnut cantered faster;
   A red flash seen amid the green,
      And so good-bye to master.
   Master came from hunting,
      Two silent comrades bore him;
   His eyes were dim, his face was white,
      The mare was led before him.
'Oh, master, master, is it thus
That you have come again to us?'
   I held my lady's ice-cold hand,
      They bore the hurdle past her;
   Why should they go so soft and slow?
      It matters not to master.