Near and Far (Blunden)/On a Small Dog
​
On a Small Dog,
thrust out in a Tokyo Street soon after
his birth, and rescued in vain
Animula vagula blandula, foundling dear,
So deep a hold have you already won
On our tired hearts? so great a joy have you to give?
So sharp a fear?
Can your tininess unseal so hot a tear
And prayer, that you should live?
Like these cherry-flowers here
Whose life thin-spun
Seems by its own ghost haunted—but no more words!
Save, all heaven's luck befriend you,
Blind eyes and feeling hands,
That take us for all-surety and all-love,
And so to sleep.
So deep a hold have you already won
On our tired hearts? so great a joy have you to give?
So sharp a fear?
Can your tininess unseal so hot a tear
And prayer, that you should live?
Like these cherry-flowers here
Whose life thin-spun
Seems by its own ghost haunted—but no more words!
Save, all heaven's luck befriend you,
Blind eyes and feeling hands,
That take us for all-surety and all-love,
And so to sleep.