MONGREL by Robert Service A puppy dog without a collar Annexed me on my evening walk; His coat suggested fleas and squalor, His tail had never known a dock. So humble, trusting, wistful was he, I gave his head a cautious pat, Then I regretted it because he Accompanied me to my door-mat. And there with morning milk I found him, Where he had slumbered all the night; I could not with displeasure hound him, So wonderful was his delight. And so with him I shared my porridge Oh! How voraciously he ate! And then I had the woeful courage To thrust him through the garden gate. But there all morning long he waited; I had to sneak out by the back. To hurt his feelings how I hated, Yet somehow he got on my track. For down the road he sudden saw me And though in trees I tried to hide, How pantingly he sought to paw me, And yelped with rapture by my side. Poor dirty dog! I should have coshed him, But after all 'twas not his fault And so I took him home and washed him, -I'm that soft-hearted kind of dolt. But then he looked so sadly thinner, Though speckless clean and airy bright, I had to buck him up with dinner And keep him for another night. And now he is a household fixture And never wants to leave my side; A doggy dog, a mongrel mixture, I couldn't lose him if I tried. His tail undocked is one wild wiggle, His heaven is my happy nod; His life is one ecstatic wriggle, And I'm his God. Robert Service