To Flush, My Dog

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!