A couch and a cushion? They're lap-dog delights.
But pluck and true breeding, such comforts unheeding,
Desert laps and hearth-rugs for frolics and fights.
Retired! How rats chortle! Like "Rab" the immortal
This dog scorns dull rest, and is still "rough on rats."
As always delighting in "plenty o' fechting,"
He pricks up his ears at a whisper of "s-s-scats!"
Aslumber and dreaming? Oh, that is mere seeming,
Curled up tail to muzzle in cosiest sort.
His hairs are a-bristle at whisper or whistle