THE DEAD BOY’S PORTRAIT AND HIS DOG.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 25, 21 June 1890, Page 18

THE DEAD BOY’S PORTRAIT AND HIS DOG.

Day after day I have come and sat Beseechingly upon the mat, Wistfully wondering what you are at ! Why have they placed you on the wall, So deathly still, so strangely tall ? You do not turn to me, nor call. Why are you fastened in a frame ? Why do 1 never hear my name You are the same, and not the same I Away from me why do you stare So far out in the distance where lam not ? lam here I Not there ! What has your little Doggie done? You used to whistle me to inn Beside you, or ahead, for fun ! You used to pat me. and a glow < It' pleasure through my life would go ! How is it that I shiver so? My tail was once a waving flag (>f welcome ! Now I cannot wag It for the weight I have to drag. I know not what has come to me, Tis only in my sleep I see Things smiling as they used to be. I do not dare to bark, I plead But dumbly, and you never heed : Nor my protection seem to need. I watch the door, I watch the gate ; I am watching early, watching late, I'owr l'"'j'jie still .’—l watch and wait !

Gerald Massey.