Hounds of Yesterday

There’s a howling in the air tonight A baying at the moon For the hound is running free again And his voice has joined the tune Of a thousand other voices That echo through the years And a certain blue-tick calling – She’s calling through my tears They’re in the backwoods running now Like in a younger age Baying on the trail with joy As they did just yesterday With their feet, like wings, a'flying As they gulp the happy air Wild-eyed little maniacs Without a worldly care! Do you hear them now, my darling? Do you see them in the fields The sun upon their shadows, the wind Blowing through their ears? As you know you’ll always see them And hear them from afar Romping through the atmosphere From star to shining star Now they pause in listening silence As if they seem to sense The presence of our memories In the near but distant past – For their memories, as such they keep Are as near as mine today Which holds them still, while still I weep For my hounds of yesterday –