No other animal, not dog nor bull, Could be more noble or more beautiful Than these, who are more courteous than people Whose heads are higher and whose bodies ripple More silkily than any of their kind. No other dogs so tensely take the wind As these, who stretch their long necks on the air As if on water; so weedily the hair Fringes each tail, floats from each delicate limb, So hard they breathe and stare, they seem to swim. And, swiftness softened, muscles at their ease, When one of them, with gentle hope to please, Trots quaintly up, and, with a humorous grace, Drops on my hands the velvet of his face. The petals of his ears and tongue, I lack All hateful thoughts -- Surely the howling pack Is not of these; surely no terrible trouble Was ever sought for wild things in the stubble By eyes so tender; never, through such soft breath, Flashed, like man's steel, the savage teeth of death. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOY (1) by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MAGDALEN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 4. THE LOTTERY GIRL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON PRAYER AT SUNRISE by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 9 by JAMES JOYCE SENRYU: BLIND DATE by TIMOTHY LIU |