To a Dog’s Memory

Louise Imogen Guiney (1861–1920)

THE GUSTY morns are here,

When all the reeds ride low with level spear;

And on such nights as lured us far of yore,

Down rocky alleys yet, and thro’ the pine,

The Hound-star and the pagan Hunter shine:

But I and thou, ah, field-fellow of mine,

Together roam no more.

Soft showers go laden now

With odors of the sappy orchard-bough,

And brooks begin to brawl along the march;

The late frost steams from hollow sedges high;

The finch is come, the flame-blue dragon-fly,

The cowslip’s common gold that children spy,

The plume upon the larch.

There is a music fills

The oaks of Belmont and the Wayland hills

Southward to Dewing’s little bubbly stream,

The heavenly weather’s call! Oh, who alive

Hastes not to start, delays not to arrive,

Having free feet that never felt a gyve

Weigh, even in a dream?

But thou, instead, hast found

The sunless April uplands underground,

And still, wherever thou art, I must be.

My beautiful! arise in might and mirth,

For we were tameless travellers from our birth;

Arise against thy narrow door of earth,

And keep the watch for me.