He’d fallen over a cliff

And he’d broken his leg.

Just a mustering dog.

And he looked at me, there on the hill,

showing no hurt, as if he’d taken no ill,

And his ears, and his tail,

And his dark brown eyes too,

Said plainly,

“Well, Boss, what do we do?

Any more sheep to head?

Give me a run,”

But he’d never head sheep anymore.

His day was done.

He thought it was fun

When I lifted the gun.

The farmer was the narrator for the story in first person, he uses a straight to the point style of telling like a NZ farmer would. It is written with direct speech from the from the dog to make the reader more sympathetic towards the dog because of its loyalty to its owner.

The tone is straight to the the point but sad.

The poem is set on a high country farm in New Zealand.

The language was informal.

The poem ‘Last Run’ by Bruce Stronach is about a dog that has fallen off a cliff and broken his leg.The Poem is set in New Zealand high country farm. The tone of the poem is sad but it is straight to the point in the NZ voice and the author also creates sympathy for the dog by using direct speech from the dog to the farmer.