Dog Poems From the Heart
The Phrase "Man's Best Friend" originated in a court of law. Back in October 28, 1869, A man's dog (named old drum), was shot to death by a neighboor. Animals had no rights back in those days, but the man wanted justice and so he hired 3 lawyers to sue the man who shot his dog. One of these lawyers, named George Graham Vest, is given credit for originally coining the phrase "Man's Best Friend" during his final summation to the jury. By the time he was finished with his speech, the jury only took 2 minutes to reach a verdict. The jury awarded the victim $5 (a very large amount of money back then). The jury also wanted the man to be sent to prison, but there were no laws governing this type of incident back then so the judge was not able to honor the jury's request for prison time.
This is a record of the final summation given by the lawyer...
The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son and daughter that he had reared with loving care may become ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him when he may need it most. Man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees and do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our head. The only absolutely unselfish friend a man may have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, when the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of a pauper as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert... he remains.
When riches take wings and reputations fall to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast into the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his grave side will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws and his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.
A DOG SITS WAITING
by Kathy Flood
A dog sits waiting in the cold autumn sun.
Too faithful to leave, too frightened to run.
He's been here for days now with nothing to do
But sit by the road, waiting for you.
He can't understand why you left him that day.
He thought you and he were stopping to play.
He's sure you'll come back, and that's why he stays.
How long will he suffer? How many more days?
His legs have grown weak, his throat's parched and dry.
He's sick now from hunger and falls, with a sigh.
He lays down his head and closes his eyes.
I wish you could see
how a waiting dog dies.
HEAVEN'S DOGGY DOOR
My best friend closed his eyes last night,
As his head was in my hand.
The Doctors said he was in pain,
And it was hard for him to stand.
The thoughts that scurried through my head,
As I cradled him in my arms.
Were of his younger, puppy years,
And OH...his many charms.
Today, there was no gentle nudge,
With an intense "I love you gaze",
Only a heart that’s filled with tears
Remembering our joy filled days.
But an Angel just appeared to me,
And he said,
"You should cry no more,
GOD also loves our canine friends,
He's installed a 'doggy-door"!
IF A DOG BE WELL REMEMBERED
(written by Ben Hur Lampman & published in the Sept. 11, 1925 issue of the Portland Oregonian)
We are thinking now of a dog, whose coat was flame in the sunshine and who, so far as we are aware, never entertained a mean or an unworthy thought. This dog is buried beneath a cherry tree, under four feet of garden loam, and at its proper season the cherry strews petals on the lawn of his grave. Beneath a cherry tree or an apple or any flowering shrub of the garden is an excellent place to bury a good dog. Beneath such trees, such shrubs, he slept in the drowsy summer or gnawed at a flavorous bone or lifted head to challenge some strange intruder. These are good places, in life or in death.
Yet it is small matter. For if a dog be well remembered, if sometimes he leaps through your dreams actual as in life, eyes kindling, laughing, begging, it matters not at all where the dog sleeps. On a hill where the wind is unrebuked and the trees roaring, or beside a stream he knew in puppyhood, or somewhere in the flatness of a pastureland where most exhilarating cattle graze. It is all one to the dog, and all one to you, and nothing is gained and nothing is lost -- if memory lives.
But there is one best place to bury a dog. If you bury him in this spot, he will come to you when you call -- come to you over the grim, dim frontiers of death, and down the well-remembered path, and to your side again. And though you call a dozen living dogs to heel they shall not growl at him, nor resent his coming, for he belongs there. People may scoff at you, who see no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall, who hear no whimper, people who may never really have had a dog. Smile at them, for you shall know something that is hidden from them, and which is well worth knowing.
The one best place to bury a dog is in the heart of his master.
THE HALF BREED
They call me a Boxer,
But I'm a Half-Breed.
Part Boxer of course,
and part people indeed.
Anyone who owns me knows it's true.
We're so close to being people,
we're like part of you.
"He's one of the family,"
you've heard people say.
"Don't know how we'll manage when he passes away."
But they'll get another Boxer,
a pure bred at first.
Not the most well-behaved puppy,
but far from the worst.
Then the change will take place,
the same as before.
They'll end up with the same human HALF-BREED once more!
THE STRAY DOG
Dear God please send me somebody who'll care!
I'm tired of running, I'm sick with despair.
My body is aching, it's so racked with pain
And dear God I pray as I run in the rain.
That someone will love me and give me a home
A warm cozy bed and a big juicy bone.
My last owner tied me all day in the yard
Sometimes with no water and God that was hard!
So I chewed my leash God and I ran away
To rummage in garbage and live as a stray.
But now God I'm tired and hungry and cold
And I'm so afraid that I'll never grow old.
They've chased me with sticks hit me with stones
While I run the streets just looking for bones!
I'm not really bad God, please help if you can
For I have become just a "victim of man!"
I'm wormy dear God and I'm ridden with fleas
and all that I want is an owner to please!
If you find one for me God, I'll try to be good
I won't chew their shoes, and I'll do as I should.
I will love them, protect them and try to obey
When they tell me to sit, to lie down or to stay!
I don't think I'll make it too long on my own
Cause I'm getting so weak and I'm Oh so alone.
Each night as I sleep in the bushes I cry
Cause I'm so afraid God, that I'm gonna die!
I've got so much love and devotion to give
That I should be given a new chance to live.
So dear God please, please answer my prayer
and send me somebody who will really care,
A PUPPY'S PRAYER
Now I lay me down to sleep
The king-size bed is soft and deep
I sleep right in the center groove
My human being can hardly move!
I' ve trapped their legs, they're tucked in tight
And here is where I pass the night
No one disturbs me or dares intrude
Till morning comes and "I want food!"
I sneak up slowly to begin
My nibbles on my mommy's chin.
For the morning's here and it's time to play
I always seem to get my way.
