While I was bicycling one desert day,
a mangy, thin, and hungry dog appeared.
He looked like he desired a place to stay;
yet I was but a child--strange things I feared.

We were out in the scrub brush all alone.
I did not know quite what to do that day.
I finally decided to ride home;
the lonely dog opined he had a say.

He followed me upon the barren sand.
Arriving at my fam'ly's iron gate,
my father met us at yard's grassy land.
"When was the last time this slim canine ate?"

My father was a kind and godly man;
he went to town and bought food for the dog.
I saw him drive away in his sedan--
it happened swiftly; I was in a fog.

My father fast returned and fed the pooch.
He did not lock the gate that summer night.
Soon after Daddy gave my cheek a smooch.
He then lay down as disappeared the light.

Expecting my new friend would then be gone,
I was surprised to find him in the yard;
apparently he spent the night till dawn.
From our estate he was not chased and barred.

We came to a consensus and we kept
the sweet dog that had trotted after me.
And in my soul, my heart for joy had leapt,
for now a path of gladness I could see.

I knew how much the dog loved me, a boy,
so I desired to name him Christian, for
he showed God's love which I could now enjoy.
He finally had made my spirits soar.

My parents deemed the name not right for him.
"That is a human name," they said to me.
I named him Leo; lions' strength and vim
and zest and fire in him I soon could see.

He soothed me when my grandmothers both died--
my parents were too lost in their own grief.
He was continually by my side;
He kept my soul away from disbelief.