And all he got was bones and bread
and the leavings of soldier’s grub,
But he’d give his heart for a pat on the head
Or a friendly tickle and rub.

And Rags got home with the regiment
And, then, in the breaking away,
Well, whether they stole him
Or whether he went
I’m not prepared to say.

But we mustered out, some to beer and gruel,
And some to sherry and shad,
And I went back to the Sawbones School
Where I was an undergrad.

One day they took us budding MDs
To one of those institutes
Where they demonstrate every new disease
By means of bisected brutes.

They had one animal tacked and tied
And slit like a full-dressed fish
With his vitals pumping away inside
As pleasant as one might wish.

I stopped to look like the rest, of course,
And the beast’s eyes leveled mine;
His short tail thumped with a feeble force
And he uttered a tender whine.

It was Rags, yes, Rags! who was martyred there,
Who was quartered and crucified,
And he whined that whine which is doggish prayer
And he licked my hand—and died.

And I was no better in part nor whole
Than the gang I was found among,
And his innocent blood was on the soul
Which he blessed with his dying tongue.

Well, I’ve seen men go to courageous death
In the air, on sea, on land,
But only a dog would spend his breath
In a kiss for his murderer’s hand.

And if there’s no Heaven for love like that
For such four-legged fealty—well!
If I have a choice, I tell you flat,
I’ll take my chance in hell.