DOG DAYS.
I’ll sing a curious little song,
Perhaps you’ll find it dull and dreary;
In truth, I drive the Muse along,
And often notice she is weary.
To sing of dog days I’ll confess
Requires a lot of nerve and notion,
Still, if you’ll bear with me, I guess,
You’ll save lost motion.When Sirius upon the scene
Climbs upward with his constellation,
The other stars feel real mean,
And drive the world to consternation;
Poor mortals must, perforce, throw fits,
Or seek the heart-destroying places;
Freak baths allure, the mud and sitz
Preserve our graces.The angry stars get jealous now
Of Sirius, who roars and blusters –
He stirs all heaven to a row
With hypochondriac-like flusters.
Throughout this time when flies abaft
Our beam refuse to let us swat them,
This heavenly bully drives us daft –
We know we’ve “got them.”Our cows — they give us buttermilk;
Our pigs break through our beds of tulips;
Our silk worms all refuse to silk,
We keep alive by mock mint juleps;
Just how we strive through heat and wet
Proves that our life’s no bed of clover –
Well — let us sweat and swear and get
These dog days over!
Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) Jul 23, 1917
Never Go.
Misfortune ne’er leaves us,
A fact which is plain –
The dog days have left us,
But cat nights remain.– Detroit Tribune.
Decatur Herald (Decatur, Illinois) Aug 29, 1905
FOR HOT WEATHER.
Dog Days and Cat Nights.
“Making any progress toward getting acquainted with those fashionable people next door?”
“Just a little. Their cat invited our cat over to a musicale last night.”
Fitchburg Daily Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) Aug 31, 1918
