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Classic poem

Loyalty

by Edward Taylor

This is the hardest part:

When I came back to life

I was a good family dog

and not too friendly to strangers.

I got a thirty-five dollar raise

in salary, and through the pea-soup fogs

I drove the General, and introduced him

at rallies. I had a totalitarian approach

and was a massive boost to his popularity.

I did my best to reduce the number of people.

The local bourgeoisie did not exist.

One of them was a mystic

and walked right over me

as if I were a bed of hot coals.

This is par for the course-

I will be employing sundry golf metaphors

henceforth, because a dog, best friend

and chief advisor to the General, should.

While dining with the General I said,

"Let's play the back nine in a sacred rage.

Let's tee-off over the foredoomed community

and putt ourselves thunderously, touching bottom."

He drank it all in, rugged and dusky.

I think I know what he was thinking.

He held his automatic to my little head

and recited a poem about my many weaknesses,

for which I loved him so.

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Public domain/Source

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