To Flush, my Dog.
Other dogs may be thy peers
Haply in these drooping ears
And this glossy fairness.
But of thee it shall be said,
This dog watched beside a bed
Day and night unweary;
Watched within a curtained room,
Where no sunbeam brake the gloom
Round the sick and weary.
Roses gathered for a vase
In that chamber died apace,
Beam and breeze resigning;
This dog only waited on,
Knowing that when light is gone
Love remains for shining.
Other dogs in thymy dew
Tracked the hares and followed through
Sunny moor or meadow;
This dog only crept and crept
Next a languid cheek that slept,
Sharing in the shadow.
Other dogs of loyal cheer
Bounded at the whistle clear,
Up the woodside hieing;
This dog only watched in reach
Of a faintly uttered speech,
Or a louder sighing.
And if one or two quick tears
Dropped upon his glossy ears,
Or a sigh came double,
Up he sprang in eager haste,
Fawning, fondling, breathing fast
In a tender trouble.
And this dog was satisfied
If a pale, thin hand would glide
Down his dewlaps sloping,
Which he pushed his nose within,
After platforming his chin
On the palm left open.
This dog, if a friendly voice
Call him now to blither choice
Than such chamber keeping,
“Come out,” praying from the door,
Presseth backward as before,
Up against me leaping.
Therefore to this dog will I,
Tenderly, not scornfully,
Render praise and favour;
With my hand upon his head,
Is my benediction said,
Therefore and forever.
Mrs. Browning said in a note to this poem: “This dog was the gift of my dear and admired friend, Miss Mitford, and belongs to the beautiful race she has rendered celebrated among English and American readers.”
Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, addressed a long poem to his dog, ending:
When my last bannock’s on the hearth,
Of that thou canna want thy share;
While I ha’e house or hauld on earth,
My Hector shall ha’e shelter there.
Another favourite was honoured by Dr. Holland, the essayist, lecturer, magazine editor, and poet: