DEFENDER OF THE REALM

               Our little Tig is quite alert to all
               The morning’s sounds, to dogs especially,
               With no idea that someone so small
               And cute might not be taken seriously
               When she barks back a suitable rebuke
               To some bruiser from half-way down the block
               Whose name’s Goliath or else Marmaduke,
               Who’s bred to chase off varmints from a flock.
               But Tiggy is intrepid, nonetheless,
               Determined to protest the insolence,
               Which a small spate of yapping should redress
               That from her point of view would sound immense.
                    While her ferocity is laughable,
                    It makes our morning anything but dull.

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