IN PRAISE OF DOGS

 

IN PRAISE OF DOGS

Dogs are everywhere, yet there are very few poems written about them.  Rarely does a poet think of writing about their  relationship with human beings. 

You find dogs in homes as well as in streets.  Those in homes enjoy the love and protection of their masters. They are like valued members of the family.

Street dogs are less fortunate.  They don’t get even two meals a day with any kind of regularity.  Moreover, unlike inhouse pets, they are exposed to all sorts of  insults and weather conditions. I have found them sheltering themselves under the cars parked in  the streets.  These dogs become mad and become a serious danger to the street dwellers  and all sorts of visitors.  Their bite, if untreated, can become fatal. 

In spite of some painful facts dogs are loved, admired, and sought after.  They are welcomed as lovely pets in innumerable households. Their masters give them unbroken love.  Indeed, they become inseparable companions. Even children treat them as playmates and good caretakers.   

It is dogs who first greet the guests and other visitors with their loud and frightful barks.

The fact that dogs are uniquely faithful is undeniable. There are legends according to which they have sacrificed their lives for their masters.

It is commonplace to say that they dogs the best companions, best guards and best sources of emotional outlet.   

            The poem that follows bears the title: ‘I THINK I KNOW NO FINER THINGS THAN DOGS’. It is a light verse written by the English poet  Hally Carrington Brent born in 1879. She died at the age of 89 and is widely known for her satires and light verse. The poem cited here is one of her several poems on dogs.

“Through prejudice perhaps my mind befogs,

I  think I know no finer things than dogs:

The young ones, they of gay and bounding hearts,

Who lure us in their games to take a part,

Who with mock tragedy their antics cloak

And, from their wild eyes’ tail, admit the joke;

The old ones, with their wistful, fading eyes,

They who desire no further paradise

Than the warm comfort of a smile and  hand,

Who tune their moods to ours and understand

Each word and gesture;  they who lie and wait

To welcome us ---- with no rebuke  if late.

Sublime the love they bear; but ask to live

Close to our feet, unrecompensed to give;

Beside which many men seem very logs ----

I think I know no finer things than dogs.

 

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15^th April 2022                                                                        G.R.KANWAL