Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

JANE - A TERRIER by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS

First Line: SHE'S SHORT IN THE LEG AND SHE'S LONG IN THE JAW
Last Line: DOES GOOD LITTLE SISTER JANE!
Subject(s): ANIMALS; DOGS; PETS;
SHE'S short in the leg and she's long in the jaw,
And the roof of her mouth is as black as your hat,
With her rough little coat and her round little paw,
She's a rum 'un, is Jane, at fox, otter, or rat;
She's the hardest from Bedale to Bicester,
In holt or in earth or in drain,
And she sticks just as close as a blister,
Does good little sister Jane.

She never was willing to learn as a pup
To "die for her country" or carry your stick,
And she always sat down when you bade her "sit up,"
But she's clever as sin, and she's thunder-bolt quick,
And the heaviest badger'll shirk her,
The biggest dog-fox bolt amain;
She's a wasp for her weight, she's a worker,
Is good little sister Jane!

At night, when she's curled in her place by the fire,
She cocks you a wicked and earth-reddened eye,
To say that her badger "sat up" by desire,
That a hoary buck-rat in the hedge did the "die,"
And she twitches and whines and remembers,
And tackles 'em over again,
Rolled up end to end by the embers,
Does good little sister Jane!


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