One of the greatest gifts I received this Christmas was a publication entitled Early Modern Zoology: The Construction of Animals in Science, Literature and the Visual Arts (Yes, I know dork alert 5000 town). One of the articles quotes a poem written in 1682 by the great Constantijn Huygens.
More than 300 years ago, in Holland, a man mourns his dog:
More than 300 years ago, in Holland, a man mourns his dog:
My Silly's Epitaph
This is my doggy's grave.
I wont say more about it,
Than that I wished (and it wouldn't harm the world)
That my little Silly lived, and all the great would die.
This is my doggy's grave.
I wont say more about it,
Than that I wished (and it wouldn't harm the world)
That my little Silly lived, and all the great would die.
Dogs make incredible companions and I, like most unemployed people, spend most of my days thinking about that which I want and yet do not possess.
I want a dog.
that poem made me cry.
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