May 19, 2009 19:34

Bob Dylan poem to be auctioned off

The singer wrote it when he was only 16

Photo Gallery: Bob Dylan
Photo: Pa Photos

A poem written by Bob Dylan when he was only 16 is being auctioned off by Christie's next month and is expected to fetch between $10,000 and $15,000.

The poem, titled 'Little Buddy', features socially conscious verses about a dog who dies at the hands of a drunken man. Dylan wrote the poem for a summer camp newspaper while attending Herzl Camp in Webster, Wisconsin in 1957. He published it under his birth name Bob Zimmerman.

The newspaper's editor, Lisa Heilicher, held on to the poem all these years and decided to sell it to help support the camp's $8 million capital campaign, reports the Associated Press.

"I kept it with all of my stuff that I collected from camp," she said. "When I realised how famous he had become, I put it in a piece of plastic and stuck it in an encyclopedia."

A verse from the poem reads:

"He was such a lovely doggy/ And to me he was such fun/ But today as we played by the way/ A drunken man got mad at him/ Because he barked in joy/ He beat him and he's dying here today".

Other Dylan items will be auctioned off as well, including his working lyrics for the early tune 'With God On Our Side', which is expected to sell for between $20,000 and $25,000, and Dylan's 1958 high school yearbook, containing student inscriptions.

The auction is set to take place in New York on June 23.

Meanwhile, the legendary singer will celebrate his 68th birthday on Sunday (May 24).

--By our Los Angeles staff.
[url="/about"] Find out more about NME.[/url]