[pa_dweller]

I hope the poetry people don't find out I did this!  : )

"The Power of the Dog"

By Rudyard Kipling

"GARM -- A HOSTAGE" -- ACTIONS AND REACTIONS

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie --
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find -- it's your own affair --
But . . . you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit hat answered your every mood
Is gone -- wherever it goes -- for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept'em, the more do we grieve;

For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long --
So why in -- Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

Yep, been there, done that.

[Johnny Gage]

Thanks. Pass the Kleenex please. This past saturday we had to put down our 10yr old family dog.
She was diagnosed with a fast growing mast-cell tumor.

Very timely article, and poem! Thanks.

PS: Our family welcomed it's newest member on Sunday, a 7 wk old pup.

[Maceman]

Dogs are idiots. They are drooling, boorish, noisy, polluting, gluttonous, crotch sniffing irritating beasts that may offer some limited functional use for protection, herding and the like, but generally are more of a nuisance than they are worth. On the whole, I think we are all better off without them.

(signed)
Maceman's cat

[Slip18]

Beautiful poem by Rudyard Kipling, pa dweller. And my heart bleeds for Johnny.

Maceman's cat: Sounds like a pretty catty remark to me. Our dogs protect our cat. I'll bet you're a real nasty little thing. LOL!

[blam]

Thanks the poem. Click on my name to see my doggies.

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks for the great poem...I have copied it, its so true and so sweet...my hubby and I have lost several of our dogs over the years, and we wonder why God gave such a short lifespan to a dog, and a much longer one to us humans...perhaps because there are so many doggies in this world, which need love...Its just so very hard, when you love your dogs so very much, they die so far ahead of you....

[HairOfTheDog]

This was a great old Free Republic Dog thread A tearjerker!... bring your kleenex! Lots of great dog poems!