Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO AN IRISH TERRIER by THOMAS WALSH

First Line: ROUGH IS YOUR COAT AND SHARP THE BITE AND BARK
Last Line: IN ANSWER TO OUR CALL AND EVERY NEED.
Subject(s): ANIMALS; DOGS; PETS;
ROUGH is your coat and sharp the bite and bark
Your giant jaws can give in an alarm;
Swift as you are to rush into the fight,
Your heart is swifter to be soft and warm.

There are about you sensitive soft ways
As of the ancient heroes of the Gael;
Your eye is melting kind or all ablaze;
You have been never known to blench or quail.

Just as the tenderness some gruff old friend
Will stealthy show us, you are dear indeed;
Faithful and rough and Irish to the end
In answer to our call and every need.



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