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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A FAMILIAR SPIRIT by WENDELL PHILLIPS STAFFORD

First Line: THERE IS A GHOST OF A DOG THAT COMES
Last Line: WHO SAYS A LITTLE DOG HASN'T A SOUL?
Subject(s): ANIMALS; DOGS;

There is a ghost of a dog that comes
As soon as I touch the knob of the door.
I can hear his quick nails scratch on the floor,
And suddenly all my fingers are thumbs—

I scarcely can get the key in the lock,
But I do, and I feel his paws on my knee;
Then off he goes in an ecstacy,
Barking like mad. I stand like a stock.

I can hear his last-year's collar-tag clink
On the edge of the bowl—he has gone to drink.
But he seems to get lost somehow in the bowl,
For he doesn't come back, and I think and think:
Who says a little dog hasn't a soul?



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