The dog’s cold nose

When Noah, perceiving ’twas time to embark,

Persuaded the creatures to enter the Ark,

The dog, with a friendliness truly sublime,

Assisted in herding them two at a time.

He drove in the elephants, zebras and gnus

Until they were packed like a box full of screws,

The cat in the cupboard, the mouse on the shelf,

The bug in the crack; then he backed in himself.

But such was the lack of available space

He couldn’t tuck all of him into the place;

So after the waters had flooded the plain

And down from the heavens fell blankets of rain

He stood with his muzzle thrust out through the door

The whole forty days of that terrible pour!

Because of which drenching, zoologists hold,

The nose of a healthy dog always is cold!

 

(Arthur Guiterman)