he was lost!—not a shade of doubt of that;

for he never barked at a slinking cat,

but stood in the square where the wind blew raw,

with drooping ear and a trembling paw,

and a mournful look in his pleading eye,

and a plaintive sniff at the passerby,

that begged as plain as tongue could sue,

“oh, mister, please may i follow you?”

a lorn wee waif of tawny brown

adrift in the roar of a heedless town.

oh, the saddest of sights in a world of sin

is a little lost pup with his tail tucked in.

well, he won my heart (for i set great store

on my own red brute—who is here no more),

so i whistled clear, and he trotted up,

[63]and who so glad as that small pup?

now he shares my board, and he owns my bed,

and he fairly shouts when he hears my tread.

then, if things go wrong, as they sometimes do,

and the world is cold and i’m feeling blue,

he asserts his rights to assuage my woes

with a warm red tongue and a nice cold nose,

and a silky head on my arm or knee,

and a paw as soft as a paw can be.

when we rove the woods for a league about,

he’s as full of pranks as a school let out;

for he romps and frisks like a three-months’ colt

and he runs me down like a thunder bolt.

oh, the blithest of sights in the world so fair

is a gay little pup with his tail in the air!

—arthur guiterman.