City Dog, Country Dog

I met a friend by the bins today,

I met a new friend by the bin.

He was a little bit bigger than me,

But I wasn’t frightened of him.

He gave me a sniff, I gave him one back,

I looked him up and down.

I stared him out and said to him,

“I haven’t seen you around town.”

“I’m new around here,” the big dog said

As he looked down his nose at me.

That seemed a little aggressive, I thought,

And I wandered off to a tree.

“I didn’t mean to be so rude,”

The big dog at once replied.

“It’s just that I don’t have any mates,”

And with that, Big Dog sighed.

“I came from someplace so far from here

Where we had green fields and grass.

This town it smells so strange to me -

Plus, I really do hate all these cars.”

“I don’t know where you mean,” I said,

Sitting down by the bins.

“I’ve lived here all my life, you see,

‘Fields’? What are these things?”

“A city dog! Wow!” barked Big Dog at me,

“I’ve never met someone like you!

You couldn’t show me the ropes, y’know?

I don’t suppose you could, could you?”

“Yeah, I could do that,” I told my pal.

“Yeah, I could do that for you.

But you’d need to do one thing for me,

Then I’ll do this favour for you.”

“Oh, name it, Little Dog, do name it to me!

I’ll do anything you ask!

I’m scared of this place, of all of the cats

And the cars that drive oh so fast.”

“I’d like you to take me to your hometown

To see all these fields oh-so-green.

I do need a break from this hectic place,

Dude, I need a change of scene.”

"But I don’t know how to get back there,

"I was carted away from that place,

I would if I could but I can’t, you see,

If I could, then back there I would race.”

“That’s a shame,” I said, and I sauntered off.

“That’s a terrible shame, for you.”

There’s nothing else I want, you see.

Best of luck in the city. Adieu.”

It may have been harsh not to help him out,

It may have been so unkind.

But I’m a city dog, see, with taxes and bills:

I’ve got tons of bloody other stuff on my mind.

So give me a break from those eyes that judge,

Don’t lay all your morals on me.

He’ll find his own way around the town,

And if not, well, he should have worked harder, y’see?

The next thing I heard of our friend, Big Dog,

Wasn’t good (perhaps shut your ears):

He fell down a manhole that wasn’t closed up.

Drat! Now I’ll never see those damnable fields.