Mornings with Abby

By Mary Ann DeVries

I awake each morning to steady eyes
and a face of perfect beauty.

She greets me with a mouth that is pinker
and sweeter than that of any angel ever drawn
by Raphael or Michelangelo.

I touch a velvet ear -- her signal to extend
a paw and nuzzle my cheek with her nose.
Our conversation begins.

She tells me with a vocal tail of her heart's delights --
commitment to simple purpose, devotion to one's own, and
the contentment that comes from living each day
without apology or regret.

I feel the deepest joy and want to tell her of my gratitude.
But I am the dumb one. I have no words
to describe my happiness.

So we share a final embrace and she is off again
to start another day -- locked in love with everything.

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Page added 10/3/98