Classic Poem

“The dog!” a friend exclaimed; and hearing there
The swift contempt expressed,
I wondered how an angel might compare
The planet's worst and best.

Fidelity and love we value most:
Of all the hearts that live,
What one fidelity like his can boast,
Or such affection give?

Love absolute, undoubting and untaught!
How grudging seems our own,
Compared to his, the changeless and unbought,
From so scant nurture grown—

The careless word, the cold hand's hurried touch,
The cast-off bone or crust!
What squandering of all we value much
Shall buy that perfect trust?

O true, deep eyes! O heart that so delights
To be the grateful slave!
O poor, dumb lips that kiss the hand that smites,
And mourn above its grave!

If truer soul be known, proclaim who can!
Nor would my tongue deny,
If heavenly tongue should praise a blameless man,
“The dog!” it well could cry.