document.write("LOVING friend, the gift of one,<br />Who, her own true faith, hath run,<br />   Through thy lower nature ;<br />Be my benediction said<br />With my hand upon thy head,<br />   Gentle fellow-creature !<br /><br />Like a lady\\\'s ringlets brown,<br />Flow thy silken ears adown<br />   Either side demurely,<br />Of thy silver-suited breast<br />Shining out from all the rest<br />   Of thy body purely.<br /><br />Darkly brown thy body is,<br />Till the sunshine, striking this,<br />   Alchemize its dulness, —<br />When the sleek curls manifold<br />Flash all over into gold,<br />   With a burnished fulness.<br /><br />Underneath my stroking hand,<br />Startled eyes of hazel bland<br />   Kindling, growing larger, —<br />Up thou leapest with a spring,<br />Full of prank and curvetting,<br />   Leaping like a charger.<br /><br />Leap ! thy broad tail waves a light ;<br />Leap ! thy slender feet are bright,<br />   Canopied in fringes.<br />Leap — those tasselled ears of thine<br />Flicker strangely, fair and fine,<br />   Down their golden inches<br /><br />Yet, my pretty sportive friend,<br />Little is \\\'t to such an end<br />   That I praise thy rareness !<br />Other dogs may be thy peers<br />Haply in these drooping ears,<br />   And this glossy fairness.<br /><br />But of thee it shall be said,<br />This dog watched beside a bed<br />   Day and night unweary, —<br />Watched within a curtained room,<br />Where no sunbeam brake the gloom<br />   Round the sick and dreary.<br /><br />Roses, gathered for a vase,<br />In that chamber died apace,<br />   Beam and breeze resigning —<br />This dog only, waited on,<br />Knowing that when light is gone,<br />   Love remains for shining.<br /><br />Other dogs in thymy dew<br />Tracked the hares and followed through<br />   Sunny moor or meadow —<br />This dog only, crept and crept<br />Next a languid cheek that slept,<br />   Sharing in the shadow.<br /><br />Other dogs of loyal cheer<br />Bounded at the whistle clear,<br />   Up the woodside hieing —<br />This dog only, watched in reach<br />Of a faintly uttered speech,<br />   Or a louder sighing.<br /><br />And if one or two quick tears<br />Dropped upon his glossy ears,<br />   Or a sigh came double, —<br />Up he sprang in eager haste,<br />Fawning, fondling, breathing fast,<br />   In a tender trouble.<br /><br />And this dog was satisfied,<br />If a pale thin hand would glide,<br />   Down his dewlaps sloping, —<br />Which he pushed his nose within,<br />After, — platforming his chin<br />   On the palm left open.<br /><br />This dog, if a friendly voice<br />Call him now to blyther choice<br />   Than such chamber-keeping,<br />Come out ! \\\' praying from the door, —<br />Presseth backward as before,<br />   Up against me leaping.<br /><br />Therefore to this dog will I,<br />Tenderly not scornfully,<br />   Render praise and favour !<br />With my hand upon his head,<br />Is my benediction said<br />   Therefore, and for ever.<br /><br />And because he loves me so,<br />Better than his kind will do<br />   Often, man or woman,<br />Give I back more love again<br />Than dogs often take of men, —<br />   Leaning from my Human.<br /><br />Blessings on thee, dog of mine,<br />Pretty collars make thee fine,<br />   Sugared milk make fat thee !<br />Pleasures wag on in thy tail —<br />Hands of gentle motion fail<br />   Nevermore, to pat thee !<br /><br />Downy pillow take thy head,<br />Silken coverlid bestead,<br />   Sunshine help thy sleeping !<br />No fly \\\'s buzzing wake thee up —<br />No man break thy purple cup,<br />   Set for drinking deep in.<br /><br />Whiskered cats arointed flee —<br />Sturdy stoppers keep from thee<br />   Cologne distillations ;<br />Nuts lie in thy path for stones,<br />And thy feast-day macaroons<br />   Turn to daily rations !<br /><br />Mock I thee, in wishing weal ? —<br />Tears are in my eyes to feel<br />   Thou art made so straightly,<br />Blessing needs must straighten too, —<br />Little canst thou joy or do,<br />   Thou who lovest greatly.<br /><br />Yet be blessed to the height<br />Of all good and all delight<br />   Pervious to thy nature, —<br />Only loved beyond that line,<br />With a love that answers thine,<br />   Loving fellow-creature !");