Edmund Blunden

The Poor Man's Pig

  • Already fallen plum-bloom stars the green
  • And apple-boughs as knarred as old toads' backs
  • Wear their small roses ere a rose is seen;
  • The building thrush watches old Job who stacks
  • The bright-peeled osiers* on the sunny fence,
  • The pent sow grunts to hear him stumping by,
  • And tries to push the bolt and scamper thence,
  • But her ringed snout still keeps her to the sty.
  •  
  • Then out he lets her run; away she snorts
  • In bundling gallop for the cottage door,
  • With hungry hubbub begging crusts and orts**,
  • Then like a whirlwind bumping round once more;
  • Nuzzling the dog, making the pullets run,
  • And sulky as a child when her play's done.
© estate of Edmund Blunden
The Shepherd & Other Poems of Peace & War.
New York: Knopf, 1922.

Editor’s Note:

* osiers - long rodlike twigs of any of various willows that are tough and flexible and used for wickerwork and basketry.

** orts - small scraps or leavings of food after a meal is completed.