Happy Birthday, Beloved Dinah
We celebrate this lovely day with one of the first poems I ever memorized. Mama and I always quoted it to our fireside-sleek dogs.Lone Dog
Irene Rutherford McLeod
I'm a lean dog, a keen dog, a wild dog and lone;
I'm a rough dog, a tough dog, hunting on my own;
I'm a bad dog, a mad dog, teasing silly sheep;
I love to sit and bay the moon, to keep fat souls from sleep.
I'll never be a lap dog, licking dirty feet,
A sleek dog, a meek dog, cringing for my meat,
Not for me the fireside, the well-filled plate,
But shut door, and sharp stone, and cuff and kick, and hate.
Not for me the other dogs, running by my side,
Some have run a short while, but none of them would bide.
Oh mine is still the lone trail, the hard trail, the best,
Wide wind, and wild stars, and hunger of the quest!
Comments
Not being much of a dog person (oh, I know. I consider it a character flaw, too) I have to say that I am completely won over by the pictures you share and the love apparent for your puppies. It's made me love them, too. (Maybe it helps, but just a little, that they can't drool on me from this distance.) ;)
Now I'm off to quote poetry to my fireside-sleek dogs.
Because, as you know, your readers love poems but we assume Dinah is not motivated much by literature.