Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ONLY A DOG, by VICTOR MARIE HUGO


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ONLY A DOG, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Just now a little group stood on the shore
Last Line: Whence is the star?' I said; 'the dog, where gone?'
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs


JUST now a little group stood on the shore,
Keenly some prostrate object gazing o'er.
''Tis but a dying dog,' the children cry,
And at their feet I saw an old dog lie.
'It has been so three days,' the women said;
'Foam from the shore waves dashing o'er its head:
We vainly called it; it seemed deaf.' 'Let be!'
An old tar said; 'its master's out at sea.'
A pilot, from his window looking on,
Said, 'The dog pines because its master's gone.'
Look! here his boat comes in; but ere it reach
This dog, it will be dead upon the beach.
I stopt and stood beside the wretched beast,
Which stirred nor head nor body in the least.
Its eyes were closed, you could not think it lived.
Its master as the evening fell arrived,
Himself now old, but fast as age may go
He sped, and the dog's name he murmured low;
Opening its eyes, which death was clouding o'er,
The dog looked on its master's face once more.
For the last time it wagged its poor old tail;
Then died.'--Neath eve's blue vault, serene and pale,
Like a torch from a cavern, Venus shone.
'Whence is the star?' I said; 'The dog, where gone?'





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