A dog starved at his master’s gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.
William Blake, Auguries of Innocence, 1803.
I've written before about
Seamus Romney as an enacted parable, but Seamus speaks to many people. Here's a
web posting that invites people to tell or touch on the Seamus story in verse, and several of the submissions are spot on. The opening invitation ran thus:
a doggerel competition. Doggy epigrams and verses please, no longer than a limerick (5 lines).
To get you started:
(1)
. . . . . . . But that was long ago
And in another country; and beside
The dog is dead.
Marlowe, The Jew of Malta; orig.”wench”
(2)
I was his Highness’ dog at Bain.
A puzzled ghost now; please explain.
(from Alexander Pope:
I am his Highness’ dog at Kew.
Pray tell me. Sir, whose dog are you?
(3)
The perfect teeth, the handsome crust:
A smiling death to canine trust.
(4)
A thrusting young partner at Bain
Drove his wife and five kids through the rain.
When the dog on the roof
Of its terror gave proof
He hosed crap and shame down the drain.
Over the
fleur de Kos for some of the submissions -
To continue with The Jew of Malta:
Oh holy friars, the burden of my sins
Lies heavy on my soul; then pray you tell me
Is’t not too late now to turn Christian?
I have been zealous in the Mormon faith,
Hardhearted to a dog, a covetous wretch….
The Marquis de Mittens?
Don’t trust him with kittens.
“Grey and stiff, but not a bad fit,
Truth-proof, empathy-proof,
proof against feces and dogs through the roof.
Believe me, they’ll fire you in it.”
Corporations are people
Dogs are luggage
Trees are the right height
More at the linked site, some quite painful. Feel free to offer your own in the comments or to share it there.