My lead dog Mike was like a bear; <br />I reckon he was grizzly bred, <br />For when he reared up in the air <br />Ho over-topped me by a head. <br />He'd cuff me with his hefty paws, <br />Jest like a puppy actin' cute, <br />And I would swear: by Gosh! he was <br />The world's most mighty malemute. <br /> <br />But oh the grub that dog could eat! <br />Yet he was never belly-tight; <br />It almost broke me buying meat <br />To satisfy his appetite. <br />Then came a change I wondered at: <br />Returning when the dawn was dim, <br />He seemed mysteriously fat, <br />And scorned the bones I'd saved for him. <br /> <br />My shack was near the hospital, <br />Wherein there laboured Nurse Louise, <br />Who was to me a little pal <br />I planned in every way to please. <br />As books and sweets for her I bought, <br />My mug she seemed to kindo' like; <br />But Mike - he loved her quite a lot, <br />And she was very fond of Mike. <br /> <br />Strolling with her as moonlight gleamed, <br />I saw a strand of cotton trail <br />From Mike, the which unseemly seemed <br />To have its source behind his tail. <br />I trod on it with chagrin grim, <br />And with a kick his absence urged; <br />But as he ran, from out of him <br />Such yards and yards of lint emerged. <br /> <br />And then on me the truth did dawn <br />Beyond the shadow of a doubt: <br />That poor dam dog was gorged upon <br />The poultices threw out. . . . <br />So "love my dog love me," I thought, <br />And seized the moment to propose . . . <br />Mike's dead, but in our garden lot <br />He's manure for a big dog-rose.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mike-2/
