(1844)
Loving friend, the gift of one,
Who, her own true faith, hath run,
Through thy lower nature;
Be my benediction said
With my hand upon thy head,
Gentle fellow-creature!
…
Like a lady’s ringlets brown,
Flow thy silken ears adown
Either side demurely,
Of thy silver-suited breast
Shining out from all the rest
Of thy body purely.
…
Darkly brown thy body is,
Till the sunshine, striking this,
Alchemize its dulness,–
When the sleek curls manifold
Flash all over into gold,
With a burnished fulness.
…
Underneath my stroking hand,
Startled eyes of hazel bland
Kindling, growing larger,–
Up thou leapest with a spring,
Full of prank and curvetting,
Leaping like a charger.
…
Leap! thy broad tail waves a light;
Leap! thy slender feet are bright,
Canopied in fringes.
Leap–those tasselled ears of thine
Flicker strangely, fair and fine,
Down their golden inches
…
Yet, my pretty sportive friend,
Little is ‘t to such an end
That I praise thy rareness!
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 dreary.
…
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 blyther 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 for ever.
…
And because he loves me so,
Better than his kind will do
Often, man or woman,
Give I back more love again
Than dogs often take of men,-
Leaning from my Human.
…
Blessings on thee, dog of mine,
Pretty collars make thee fine,
Sugared milk make fat thee!
Pleasures wag on in thy tail-
Hands of gentle motion fail-
Nevermore, to pat thee!
…
Downy pillow take thy head,
Silken coverlid bestead,
Sunshine help thy sleeping!
No fly’s buzzing wake thee up–
No man break thy purple cup,
Set for drinking deep in.
…
Whiskered cats arointed flee–
Sturdy stoppers keep from thee
Cologne distillations;
Nuts lie in thy path for stones,
And thy feast-day macaroons
Turn to daily rations!
…
Mock I thee, in wishing weal?-
Tears are in my eyes to feel
Thou art made so straightly,
Blessing needs must straighten too,-
Little canst thou joy or do,
Thou who lovest greatly.
…
Yet be blessed to the height
Of all good and all delight
Pervious to thy nature,-
Only loved beyond that line,
With a love that answers thine,
Loving fellow-creature!
-To Flush, My Dog by Elizabeth Barrett Browning