LOVING friend, the gift of one
Kindly who her faith hath run
Through thy lower nature¹
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
Alchemise 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,
Upward, upward, dost thou spring,
Full of prank and cürvetting,
Rearing like a charger!

Leap! thy broad tail waves a light,
Leap! thy slender feet are bright,
Glittering in their fringes;
Leap—those tasselled ears of thine
Flicker strangely, fair and fine,
Down their golden inches.
Yet, O pretty, playful friend,

Little is ’t to such an end
That I praise thy rareness!
Other dogs may be thy peers
Haply in those tasselled 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, friend-like, waited on,
Knowing that when light is gone
Love remains for shining.

Other dogs, at sweep of horn,
Barked along the shivering corn
Till the game was started;--
This dog only, all the day,
Patient by a pillow lay,
Watching the sad-hearted.

Other dogs in thymy dew
Tracked their masters down and through
Sunny slope and meadow;--
This dog only, crept and crept
Next a languid cheek that slept,
Sharing in the shadow.

Other dogs of faithful cheer
Followed close 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
Stroking and reposing
Down his ears, and o'er his head,
With an open palm, he laid
Afterward, his nose in.

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 have 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 bested--
Sunshine help thy sleeping!
No fly’s buzzing rouse thee up,
No man break thy purple cup,
Set for drinking deep in.
Bearded 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?—
Rather could I weep to feel
Thou art made so straightly,
Blessing needs must straighten too,—
Little canst thou joy and do,
Thou who lovest greatly.

Yet be blessëd to the height
Of all dream and all delight
Pervious to thy nature;
Only loved beyond that line,
Worthily of love of thine,
Loving fellow-creature!

¹  This dog was the gift of my dear and admired friend, Miss Mitford, and belongs to the beautiful race she has rendered celebrated among English and American readers. The Flushes have their laurels as well as the Cæsars,—the chief difference (at least the very head and front of it) consisting, perhaps, in the bald head of the latter under the crown. 1844. [EBB note]