Page:Poems (1915) G K Chesterton.djvu/103



ONES had a dog; it had a chain;

Not often worn, not causing pain;

But, as the I.K.L. had passed

Their "Unleashed Cousins Act" at last,

Inspectors took the chain away;

Whereat the canine barked "hurray"!

At which, of course, the S.P.U.

(Whose Nervous Motorists' Bill was through),

Were forced to give the dog in charge

For being Audibly at Large.

None, you will say, were now annoyed,

Save, haply, Jones—the yard was void.

But something being in the lease

About "alarms to aid the police,"

The U.S.U. annexed the yard

For having no sufficient guard;

Now if there's one condition

The C.C.P. are strong upon

It is that every house one buys

Must have a yard for exercise;

So Jones, as tenant, was unfit,

His state of health was proof of it.

Two doctors of the T.T.U.'s