Still Learning, A Poem
"How long have you been with dogs?"
I asked this old chap at the show.
"Forty-odd years and more," he replied.
"Then there's not much that you wouldn't know."
"I'm still learning," he said, "I'm still learning."
And it made me ponder awhile
On those who know it all in three months,
And I gave him a ghost of a smile.
You could tell he'd have none of the new-fangled,
He was old-fashioned right down to the core.
But I'll bet when the judges gathered together
His name would rank up in the fore.
He would have hunted and shot over dogs
Before most of us had been born.
He'd sat with his dogs in the woods
And with them, had scented the dawn.
He's bred, shown, paraded and judged,
He knew it all outside from in.
"But I'm still learning," he said, "I'm still learning,"
With his quite, unobtrusive small grin.
So all we ringside Johnny-come-latelies,
All we experts who own just one pup,
Remember that old guy's forty years of "still learning,"
And for goodness' sake learn to shut up!
-author unknown
