Dog (poetry competition)

I  wrote this over fifty years ago, when I was under attack equally from acne and emotions and hadn’t yet decided whether I was going to be Sir Galahad or Don Juan. (Well, no-one sets out aspiring to be average do they?)

Anyway, despite it’s faults…..

Small boy running with a black and white dog
Down across the meadow, through the woods, to the bog
Small boy throws sticks, lights a fire, builds a dam
Dog runs around to find where the rabbits ran
Always out together in wind and rain and snow
Where small boy is, then dog has to go

Running through the bracken on a long hot summer day
Then splashing in the water, to wash the mud away
Small boy must have his tea and dog must have his bone
And after, tear together, round and round the home
Always out together by meadow pond and stream
In the quiet autumn mornings, when breath is made of steam.

Boy grows into man, goes to work learns the law
Dog still lies waiting, ears cocked towards the door.
His muzzle getting whiter and sight getting dim
The time passed in sleeping  and just waiting for him
The days getting shorter and time together less
But there’s only ever one man a dog loves the best.

Quietly one morning, there’s no scratching at the door
Nor the sound of padding feet across the kitchen floor
And half forgotten memories flood across his mind
When his friend was young and fluffy, and wasn’t quite so blind
Once he was a boy and to a man he had to grow
But he was my dog, and the tears begin to flow.

20 thoughts on “Dog (poetry competition)”

  2. Morning JH

    Yes, that’s what happens when you c&p from a word processor to WordPress, the html goes wonky!

    Do you simply want 4 x 6 line stanzas?

    If so I’ll fix it for you 😉

  3. Soutie,
    Yes please and thanks.
    It wasn’t a c&p tho, I did it as a new post typing it out in full. What did I do wrong do you think?

  4. Boadicea is currently editing it for you.

    I don’t know the technical reasons for WordPress html handling poetry differently (there’s a lot about it on their help pages.)

  6. In the visual editor –

    For a “spaced line” (as for a new paragraph), press enter.
    For a “non-spaced line” (for the next line within a stanza), press shift-enter.

    It’s all in the WordPress support pages, if you want to look it up. 😆

  7. Well JH – it has stood the test of time! Perfectly charming piece. (This very morning I wrote an extra verse to the hymn “Bread of Heaven” to the Welsh tune Cym Rhondda – being sort of challenged by a Prison Chaplain. Nothing whatsoever to do with your post but as its a sparking summer morning why not share my free spirit! )

    Thanks for posting your verse. I shall copy it as it skips so well.

  10. JHL, thank you for your pome entry.

    PS. When you have a mind to, why not tell us about yourself? 🙂

  16. jhleck :

    Janus,
    Will do, although we have talked before Used to blog occasionally on MyT as jamesleck

    Oops, my mistake! I hope they are good memories! 🙂

  17. Liked the poem, so sad to lose them. I always thought it was a terrible design fault that dogs did not last as long as the people they own.
    Yes I remember you too.

  18. jhleck, good evening and welcome.

    I too remember you and I stand by what I wrote on one of your earliest MyT blogs all those years ago.

    http://my.telegraph.co.uk/james_leck/james_leck/3950811/Another_french_bar_tale/#disqus_thread

    As I said then, you made me laugh out loud. Contrariwise, ‘Dog’ brought a slight tear.My first dog is 10 months old tomorrow. I dread the day that he will not be there. Provided, of course, that I outlast him which is, to be fair, not a racing certainty.

    A fine pom. Good luck in the competition.

  19. Christina,
    Lovely to hear from you again. Agree on the timelines, it’s one of the reasons we decided not to have another one. Daughter and son in law have a boxer and I’ve never trained one of those before. What a bright dog! “Find and speak” which always a tricky one, he got in 20 seconds flat! Amazing animal.

  20. John,
    I’d completely forgotten the Brittany story and amazed that you remembered it. What type of dog is he?Thanks for your kind comment and nice to hear from you again.

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