Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/54

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"Oh, he loved the Boggle Dogs,                   Called 'em 'Dear' an' 'Darlin' '—                Fierce, feerocious Boggle Dogs,                    With their savage snarlin';                Which they et the Warty Swunks,                    Beady-eyed and vicious,                Which they et the Guffer Birds,                    Native of Mauritius,               Which they et the Wuzzle Swooks—                    Plague of cultivators—                Which they et the Grimble Grubs,                    Which they et his taters.

"Then Martin he picked up a bit, an' got his proper sleep, Until he found the Boggle Dogs had taken to his sheep; For Warty Swunks is hard to catch, and nimble on their feet, An' livers of merino lambs is just as nice to eat.

"Now, I'm thinkin' here that Martin must have gone a trifle mad, Else he'd never have imported such a creature as the Gnad; For the Gnad, though few folks know it, roams about the Boffin bogs An' he has a passin' fancy for the flesh of Boggle Dogs.

"But Martin he imported one with his last bit of cash, An' loosed him on the Boggle Dogs—an action worse than rash;