One You'll Outrun

He all the country could outrun,
 Could leave both man and horse behind;
 And often, ere the chase was done,
 He reeled, and was stone-In the sweet shire of Cardigan,
 Not far from pleasant Ivor-hall,
 An old Man dwells, a little man,
 'Tis said he once was tall.
 For five-and-thirty years he lived
 A running huntsman merry;
 And still the centre of his cheek
 Is red as a ripe cherry.
 No man like him the horn could sound,
 And hill and valley rang with glee
 When Echo bandied, round and round
 The halloo of Simon Lee.
 In those proud days, he little cared
 For husbandry or tillage;
 To blither tasks did Simon rouse
 The sleepers of the village.
 He all the country could outrun,
 Could leave both man and horse behind;
 And often, ere the chase was done,
 He reeled, and was stone-blind.
 And still there's something in the world
 At which his heart rejoices;
 For when the chiming hounds are out,
 He dearly loves their voices!
 But, oh the heavy change! bereft
 Of health, strength, friends, and kindred, see!
 Old Simon to the world is left
 In liveried poverty.
 His Master's deadand no one now
 Dwells in the Hall of Ivor;
 Men, dogs, and horses, all are dead;
 He is the sole survivor.
 And he is lean and he is sick;
 His body, dwindled and awry,
 Rests upon ankles swoln and thick;
 His legs are thin and dry.
 One prop he has, and only one,
 His wife, an aged woman,
 Lives with him, near the waterfall,
 Upon the village Common.