Dinner Without Grace

         Dinner Without Grace

Food bits used to fall from my fork
to the floor where puppy consumed their trace,
her lips adrip from juice of pork
and wide-eyed looks of longing on her fuzzy face.

Yes, we invited our dog to dinner,
and I guess we dropped morsels at such a pace
that little Gracie became a sinner
by gluttony, if chubbiness could prove the case.

Now, years later, our doggy is dead,
and supper no longer holds any special taste.
We bow our head; a prayer gets said,
and we eat, but it's never really dinner without Grace.