This poem was first published in Nature and Other Poems (1912). It appeared alongside another poem on a similar (but less allegorical) theme, On Being Bitten By a Dog. blank Last night, as I my steps did wend,    To pay a visit to a friend, A vicious cur, with wretched spite,    Flew at my knee with savage bite; Flesh-deep his teeth met with the bound. And left behind a poisonous wound. To-day my letters are returned,    Contemned, despised, disdained and spurned, Which I most faithfully did write    Unto a certain worthy knight, Causing a deeper, deadlier wound Than that inflicted by the hound. Wherefore, I try my friends no more,    But shun their dark and dangerous door; Hence to my enemies I turn,    Whether they will my kindness spurn. Our friends, it seems, are rare and few; Only our enemies are true. Poems index Alphabetical list of poems online