Poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

To Flush, My Dog by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Yet, my pretty sportive friend,
Little is't to such an end
That I praise thy rareness!
Other dogs may be thy peers
Haply in these drooping ears,
And this glossy fairness.

But of thee it shall be said,
This dog watched beside a bed
Day and night unweary—
Watched within a curtained room,
Where no sunbeam brake the gloom
Round the sick and dreary.

Roses, gathered for a vase,
In that chamber died apace,
Beam and breeze resigning.
This dog only, waited on,
Knowing that when light is gone
Love remains for shining.

Other dogs in thymy dew
Tracked the hares, and followed through
Sunny moor or meadow.
This dog only, crept and crept
Next a languid cheek that slept,
Sharing in the shadow.

Other dogs of loyal cheer
Bounded at the whistle clear,
Up the woodside hieing.
This dog only, watched in reach
Of a faintly uttered speech,
Or a louder sighing.

And if one or two quick tears
Dropped upon his glossy ears,
Or a sigh came double—
Up he sprang in eager haste,
Fawning, fondling, breathing fast,
In a tender trouble.

And this dog was satisfied
If a pale thin hand would glide
Down his dewlaps sloping—
Which he pushed his nose within,
After—platforming his chin
On the palm left open.

A recipe and a poem for Tara

I came across a recipe for red mullet.  It was recommended by Billy Collins the former U.S. poet laureate.

Below you can read The Fish, a poem by Billy Collins.   It is a bonus, especially for you Tara dearest.

Bon Appetit.

Red Mullet With Pancetta And Thyme

4 red mullets (about 8 ounces each), cleaned and gutted

Olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

A large bunch fresh thyme

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

8 thin slices pancetta (or bacon)

4 good-quality anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained.

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat a large skillet until very hot.

2. Meanwhile, rub each fish and its cavity with olive oil and season, inside and out, with salt and pepper. Stuff each cavity with a few sprigs of thyme and a lemon slice.

3. Cook the pancetta in the hot skillet until lightly browned, about 30 seconds per side. In the same hot skillet, sear the fish, 1 minute per side. Transfer to a cutting board. Wrap each fish with 2 strips pancetta and top with an anchovy fillet. Lay the fish in a roasting pan, top with extra thyme and drizzle with more olive oil. Roast in the oven until cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Serves 4.

Below the poem promised for my compassionate Tara; I know you will get this poem unlike most teens…

THE FISH

BY BILLY COLLINS

Published November 25,2007 New York Times

As soon as the elderly waiter
placed before me the fish I had ordered,
it began to stare up at me
with its one flat, iridescent eye.

I feel sorry for you, it seemed to say,
eating alone in this awful restaurant
bathed in such unkindly light
and surrounded by these dreadful murals of Sicily.

And I feel sorry for you, too —
yanked from the sea and now lying dead
next to some boiled potatoes in Pittsburgh —
I said back to the fish as I raised my fork.

And thus my dinner in an unfamiliar city
with its rivers and lighted bridges
was graced not only with chilled wine
and lemon slices but with compassion and sorrow

even after the waiter removed my plate
with the head of the fish still staring
and the barrel vault of its delicate bones
terribly exposed, save for a shroud of parsley.