Here you will find the Poem At The Sheep-Dog Trials of poet David Campbell
What ancestors unite Here in this red and white Kelpie to define His symmetry of line, As crouched in burning dust He halts both Time and beast? The wethers stamp the ground, At his will turn around. He is of collie stock: Austerity of rock Has lent his mind and bone The toughness of its stone. And though for Border flocks The collie and the fox Fought tooth to tooth, they joined And have the kelpie coined Whose ears acutely set Across the centuries yet Hear the concordant sound Of coupled horn and hound; And as the moon the tides The hidden vixen guides With craft the blood that strains And surges in his veins. Those who stand and stare At cripples in the fair Have not the eyes to see His blood's dignity Where old adversaries meet, As now on velvet feet He moves to his master's call, In action classical.
