Burns Night thoughts

It's 250 years since Scotland's greatest poet was born. I think this is one literary figure that all dogs can appreciate. How so?

First point: Subject matter of poems. It takes a unique artistic sensibility to realise that a dish primarily made of sheep's entrails is worthy of attention.

'Fair fa your honest sonsie face,

Great Chieftan o' the pudding race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy o' a grace

As lang's my arm.'

From 'To a Haggis'. Wow. That's what I call good writing. Stomach, tripe and intestines all mentioned in the first verse.

Second point: Recognition that dogs too have something to say about the world. Is there a better poem around than 'The Twa Dogs, A Tale'? So many astute observations.

'But human-bodies are sic fools,

For a' their colledges and schools,

That when nae real ills perplex them.

They mak enow themsels to vex them;'

You know, I really think that if Burns was alive today, he'd have been helping his dog write a blog.