The Unicorn
The Unicorn stood, like a king in a dream,
On the bank of a dark Senegambian stream;
And flaming flamingoes flew over his head,
As the African sun rose in purple and red.
Who knows what the thoughts of a unicorn are
When he shines on the world like a rising star;
When he comes from the magical pages of story
In the pride of his horn and a halo of glory?
He followed the paths where the jungle beasts go,
And he walked with a step that was stately and slow;
But he threw not a shadow and made not a sound,
And his foot was as light as the wind on the ground.
The lion looked up with his terrible eyes,
And growled like the thunder to hide his surprise.
He thought for a while, with a paw in the air;
Then tucked up his tail and turned into his lair.
The gentle giraffe ran away to relate
The news to his tawny and elegant mate,
While the snake slid aside with a venomous hiss,
And the little birds piped: 'There is something amiss!'
But the Unicorn strode with his head in a cloud
And uttered his innocent fancies aloud.
'What a wonderful world!' he was heard to exclaim;
'It is better than books: it is sweeter than fame!'
And he gazed at himself, with a thrill and a quiver,
Reflected in white by the slow-flowing river:
'O speak to me, dark Senegambian stream,
And prove that my beauty is more than a dream!'
He had paused for a word in the midst of his pride,
When a whisper came down through the leaves at his side
From a spying, malevolent imp of an ape
With a twist in his tail and a villainous shape:
'He was made by the stroke of a fanciful pen;
He was wholly invented by ignorant men.
One word in his ear, and one puff of the truth-
And a unicorn fades in the flower of his youth,'
The Unicorn heard, and the demon of doubt
Crept into his heart, and the sun was put out.
He looked in the water, but saw not a gleam
In the slow-flowing deep Senegambian stream.
He turned to the woods, and his shadowy form
Was seen through the trees like the moon in a storm.
And the darkness fell down on the Gambian plain;
And the stars of the Senegal sought him in vain.
He had come like a beautiful melody heard
When the strings of the fiddle are tunefully stirred;
And he passed where the splendours of melody go
When the hand of the fiddler surrenders the bow.
- E. V. Rieu
The Lost Unicorn
Oh how in our childlike hearts still we mourn
The passing of the Unicorn.
Of gentle beauty and infinite grace,
A creature unfit for our worlds pace.
Yet Wait! For who's to say?
Perhaps even now in some far distant forest glade,
There still moves quietly in the cool and leafy shade.
That timeless creature of a golden age,
That spirit of a shining dawn,
That magic beast The Unicorn.
-Author Unknown
"A Magical Beast"
A magical beast the Unicorn, with flowing mane and a single horn.
Do you really exist? I say you do.
You'll never find a Unicorn caged in a zoo.
In a land of beauty and peace they dwell;
yet where it is I cannot tell. I've visited them in this heavenly place,
and cannot describe their incredible grace.
They know nothing of lies and war and hate, for they are noble and pure,
and their love is great.
They live in peace and through love are born, this magical beast....
the Unicorn.
-Lady in Black
Unicorn
All that lives of legendry,
Beauty, magic, mystery,
Gentleness and purity,
Dwells in me.
I no mate, no kin, have known;
None may claim me as his own;
One is one, and all alone,
It must be.
Through their weariness and woe
Men have sometimes seen me go,
Felt a wind from Eden blow
Suddenly:
Though they hunt with spear and horn,
Knowing life cannot be borne
If they have no unicorn--
I am free.
Though they kill, and weep to see
Beauty's symbol ended be--
One is one and lives in me
To eternity.
- Nicholas Stuart Gray
I Believe
All through my life
I have been told,
Not to believe in Unicorns
Because I was to old.
"Your mature enough to know better".
I've been told since I was 8.
But all the punishment and lectures,
Just came way to late.
Because I believed,
That Unicorns still walked the land
And I believed
That I saw thier hoofprints in the sand
And my beliefs were mine to keep
Couldn't no one take them away
And I swore
I'd believe in the unicorn until my dying day.
When I as 10, I had a special freind
That would visit me every day.
And then at night, we'd take a magical flight
To a land very far away.
My friend was a black Unicorn with a golden horn
And bright & shiney blue eye's.
And she'd always say as long
"As you believe, A Unicorn never dies".
And I believed
That Unicorns still walked the land
And I believed
That I saw their footprints in the sand
And my beliefs were mine to keep
Couldn't no one take them away
And I swore I'd believe in the Unicorn
Until my dying day.
And at the age of 24, I believed in the Unicorn all the more
And told everybody about it
Some people said I'd lost my head
And as a human I wasn't fit.
Even at the age of 33, that same black Unicorn visited me
And every night we flew away
But we always came back,unfortunatly
Before the begining of day.
And I believed
That Unicorns still walked the land
And I believed That
I saw their hoofprints in the sand.
And my beliefs were mine to keep
Couldn't no one take them away
And I swore I'd believe in the Unicorn
Until my dying day.
And at the age of 57, I believed as much as when I was 11
But my body got weaker every day.
Until one spring I be gan to sing
As my friend came one last time to take me away.
Now you may think since I'm gone, my beliefs can not go on.
That it ends With me alive no more.
But though my body's 6ft. under, I now have hoofs of thunder
And I'll be a Unicorn forever more.
And I believe
That Unicorns still walk the land
And I believe
That I saw their hoofprints in the sand
And my beliefs are mine to keep
Can't no one take them away
And I believed in the Unicorn
Until my dying day.
-By Wolf
The New Era
Quickly the rein of the horned one comes,
Over rich mens mansions and begers slums.
The rein is long but time is short,
And there's no escaping for the evil sort.
All bad shall be made good, all wrong shall be set right.
There shall be no fear in the morning, noon or night.
Evil will become a distant memory,
Like a relative, long ago, lost to the sea.
A new time is coming and about to be born.
It shall be known as the era of the Unicorn.
-by Wolf
Where Do Unicorns Go?
In the sea, the fish have learned to fly,
On a moonlit night, on wings of silver,
As the enchanted stars sail serenely by.
Do they know? Where do unicorns go?
Where winged horses fly?
Narwhals lost at sea, and never seen again.
Go, go and ask the magpie, "Where do unicorns go?"
In the trees, the birds have learned to speak,
Many colored, they keep their secrets,
In a parade of clouds.
Playing hide and seek, do they know?
Where do unicorns go? Where winged horses fly?
Narwhals lost at sea, and never seen again.
Does myth and mystery lie, Where the unicorns go?....
-Author Unknown
The Last Unicorn
When the last eagle flies over the
last crumbling mountain,
And the Last lion roars at the last
dusty fountain,
In the shadow of the forest, though
she may be old and worn,
They will stare, unbelieving, at the
Last Unicorn.
When the first breath of winter
through the flowers is icing,
And you look to the north and the
pale moon is rising,
And it seems like all is dying and
would leave the world to mourn
In the distance, her the laughter of
the Last Unicorn,
I'm alive...I'm alive...
When the last moon is cast over the
last star of morining,
And the future has past without even
a last desperate warning,
Then look into the sky where through
the clouds a path is formed
Look and see her, how she sparkles,
it's the Last Unicorn,
I'm alive...I'm alive...
-Author Unknown
German Folk Song
The Unicorn is noble;
He knows his gentle birth,
He knows that God has chosen him
Above al beasts of Earth.
The Unicorn is noble;
He keeps him safe and high
Upon a narrow path and steep
Climbing to the sky;
And there no man can take him,
He scorns the hunter's dart,
And only a virgin's magic power
Shall tame his haughty heart.
What would be now the state of us
But for this Unicorn,
And what would be the fate of us,
Poor sinners, lost, forlorn?
Oh, may He lead us on and up,
Unworthy though we be,
Into His Father's kingdom,
To dwell eternally'
-Ludwig Uhland
Longer Version of Buddhist Hymm
The deer untethered roams the wild
Where it wishes in search of food,
Seeing this liberty, wise man,
Fare solit'ry as The Unicorn.
Free everywhere and at odds with none
Content with what comes your way
Enduring peril without alarm,
Fare solit'ry as The Unicorn
Like a Lion fearless of the howling pack
Like the breeze ne'er trapped in a snare
Like the lotus unsoiled by its stagnant pool,
Fare solit'ry as The Unicorn.
The following poem is by my very dear friend Terry. Thank you Terry, its one of the best unicorn poems I've ever read. *hugsss*
Shhh, hush child.
Cry not as you gaze upon
my horn, lifeless,
upon the ground.
For I live
Still.
There are stories,
legends, myths,
long untold,
still to believe.
If you care
or will.
All is not lost
that can still be dreamt
by souls
that search for love,
hope, and what
may be.
Search for me
in the wooded glen
far from those
who are blind
My horn will shine
for you to see.
-TB
Quotes & Sayings
I am the owner of the sphere,
of the seven stars and the
solar year
Of Caesar's hand and Plato's
brain
Of Lord Christ's heart and
Shakespeares's strain....
As the tide comes in
we caress each other....
Many times have I
danced around mermaids
As they rose from the
depths and rested
Upon my crest to watch
the stars.
...no place is more enchanted than
where a unicorn has been born.
O unicorn among the cedars
To whom no magic charm can lead us,
White childhood moving like a sigh
Through the green woods unharmed in thy
Sophisticated innocense...
I saw the unicorns trampling,
trampling...strength, they
meant virginal strength, a
rushing, lasting, tireless
strength.
The unicorn has come out of
the forest
To graze the lush grass in
the heat of the sun.
All unaware of the passions
arousing,
Oblivious to danger, in
fear of no one.
Here sits the unicorn;
...flowers that rise
From the velvet field
In which he lies...
Do not bind him there
In a kingdom where
He is unaware
of his wounds, of his snare.
To regard the unicorn as wholly
fabulous and a product of fancy
is a absurd and arbitrary
position, and we do well to
remember that if the elephant
and giraffe and camel should
once die out they too, on
account of their strange forms,
would be thought fabulous
The unicorn was white, with hooves of silver and
graceful horn of pearl...The glorious thing about
him was his eye. There was a faint bluish forrow
down each side of his nose, and this led to the eye
sockets, and surrounded them in pensive shade. The
eyes circled by this sad and beautiful darkness, were
so sorrowful, lonlely, gentle and nobly tragic, that
they killed all other emotions
except love.
The shark is killed for its fin
The rhino is killed for its horn
The tiger is killed for its skin
What price the unicorn?
Now I will believe that there are unicorns.
The unicorn stands alone
on a cliff above the ocean.
Waves crash upon the jaggered stones
they jut out like broken bones.
Lightning shreds apart the heavens
like claws of a dragon.
Yet, in the midst of the storm
the unicorn remains composed.
The wise man says these animals
Lust greatly after pretty girls.
This way to catch them is the best,
A youth in women's clothes is dressed
And then with dainty steps he flaunts
About the Unicorn's bright haunts.
For when this creature spies a maid
Straight in her lap he lays his head.
The huntsman, doffing his disguise
Saws off the horn and wins the prize.
The Lion and the
Unicorn
Were fighting for the
Crown
The Lion beat the
Unicorn
All around the town
Some gave them
white bread,
Some gave them brown,
Some gave them
plum cake
And drummed them
out of town.
Like as a Lion whose imperial power
A proud rebellious Unicorn defies,
T'avoid the rash assault and wrathful stour
Of his fierce foe, him to a tree applies,
And when him running in full course he spies,
He slips aside; the whiles that furious beast
His precious horn, sought of his enemies,
Strikes in the stock, nor thence can be released,
But to the mighty victor yields a
bounteous feast.
'In the age of Tang and Yu the Unicorn and
the Phoenix walked abroud.
Now when it is not their time they come
And what do they seek?
The Unicorn, the Unicorn, my heart is sad.'
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