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The Big Fellow

E. J. Pratt

A huge six footer,
Eyes bay blue,
And as deep;
Lower jaw like a cliff,
Tongue silent,
As hard and strong as a husky.
A little man,
In a pressed suit,
Standing before him,
Had dug a name out of the past,
And flung it at him
Under cover of law.
The big fellow
Leaned over him,
Like a steel girder,
Just for a moment,
Then swung around on his heel
Without striking.
And I thought of the big Newfoundland
I saw, asleep by a rock
The day before
That was galvanized by a challenge,
But eying a cur,
He turned,
Yawned,
Closed one eye,
Then the other,
And slept.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Newfoundland Verse | 1923
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