Those who did it are dead now. And what they did,
they were trained to do and had no choice, no freedom.
Still, when I read in some book review that the camps’
guard dogs were “Alsatians, Airedales, and Doberman
pinschers” I can’t help blaming the dogs of these breeds,
even though they have no idea what breeds they are.

  

Alsatians? Of course. And Dobermans? They are weapons
that sometimes wag their tails. But Airedales?
                                                                                     Yappy
clowns they are, huge terriers after all.
Frisky perhaps . . . But then the zebra-suited
Musselmänner didn’t think they were cute
as they watched the attacks of those packs of killer dogs.

  

But the National Association for the Advancement
of Airedales? And the Airedale Anti-defamation League?
And the liberal line that says I cannot blame
a class for what some members may have done?
They are all correct, as I admit at once.
But I would cross the street to avoid an Airedale.
And I would not have an Airedale in my house.

A Message from the Editors

Your donation sustains our efforts to inspire joyous rediscoveries.

This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 16 Number 7, on page 35
Copyright © 2024 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com
https://newcriterion.com/issues/1998/3/airedales