That sometimes lives, sometimes is dead,
So wonderful and round and red!
Those wistful little yellow eyes
Glaring at balls that round them rise:
Those bandy legs, those big, broad paws,
Those smiling, comprehensive jaws:
That lolling, red, protruding tongue,
That plaintive yelp to heaven up-flung,
Attesting plain as human speech
How fain thou art the ball to reach.