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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DANDIE DINMONTS, by WILLIAM HENRY OGILVIE Poet's Biography
First Line: Pepper or mustard- what's the odds?
Alternate Author Name(s): Ogilvie, Will Henry
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs
First Line: Pepper or mustard- what's the odds?
Alternate Author Name(s): Ogilvie, Will Henry
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs
Pepper or Mustard-what's the odds?
Valiant, varmint, lithe and low,
These were the hounds that the wise old gods
Took to their hunting an …on ago,
These when the wild boar stamped and stood
These when the gaunt wolf snapped at bay,
Grim and relentless, rash and rude,
Went for the throat in the Dandie way.
Deep in the slope of that dome-like head,
Under that topknot crimped and curled,
Surely the fighting fire was fed
Before the fires were cool in the world!
Surely 'twas these that the cave-men kept,
Comrades in hunting, sport and war,
Sharing the shelves where their masters slept,
Tearing the bones that their master tore!
No?-Well, have it the way you please;
But I'll wager it wasn't a show-ring Fox,
Poodle or Pom or Pekingese,
That bayed the mammoth among the rocks;
But something tousled and tough and blue,
Lined like a weasel-arch and dip,
Coming up late, as the Dandies do,
And going right in with the Border grip.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
SENTIMENTAL DANGERS by ANDREW HUDGINS
SHOOTING THE DOG by JUNE JORDAN
AFTER AN ILLNESS, WALKING THE DOG by JANE KENYON
DANCING WITH THE DOG by SUSAN KENNEDY
A TELL-TALE TRYST by WILLIAM HENRY OGILVIE