| Other Men's Dogs Addie Cropsey Hudson Other men's dogs have died, I guess; I never gave it a thought Except a smile about the fuss Over a dog--a canine cuss; Why should I worry that blood was shed? But it's different now, for my dog's dead. To think some ornery so & so Would murder a dog like Ted; Murder it is, and first degree, To shoot an old pal such as he. Don't ask me about the things I said; It's different when your dog's dead. I sure profaned that so & so some, When he met my boot he fled; To kill a woman's only friend! It should have been that so & so's end. What could I do? He had killed my Ted; The poor little son-of-a-gun was dead. I buried him by the roadside A mountain cliff at his head; Kinnikinick and columbine Went in that hole with spruce and pine, And, well--I'll admit some tears were shed; It's right at home when your own dog's dead. The doghouse by the cabin door, That the quaking-asp o'erspread, Is nothing but an empty shack, Its owner gone--he can't come back; For to pound a darned old so & so's head Won't bring him back, if your dog is dead. Tonight the prairie wolves howl 'round-- That pack on dead meat fed-- Chanting about a so & so's sin; But Ted is gone, he can't chime in. The poor little lovin' cuss is dead; Sinfully swearin' I go to bed. |
| Vintage Colorado Poetry Poem of the Month January 2008 |
| Addie Cropsey Hudson lived in Gardner. "Other Men's Dogs" appeared in the poet's 1917 collection Land Where the Cowboy Grows and again in the 1926 anthology Evenings with Colorado Poets. What got Ted shot is a mystery. Was it just orneriness on a neighbor's part with Ted innocent as the poet suggests? Or did the neighbor have just cause? Make no mistake Ted was a real-life Colorado dog and he was loved despite his faults, if any. The present version has been slightly edited by Vintage Colorado Poetry. |
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| Hemesath family dog, Honey. Photo editor: Charlotte. |