Any Interest in a Dead Mouse?

I bless you today to be a “slave to righteousness.” (Romans 6:18)

May you feel no alternative

But to be drawn to all that is holy and good.

The beagle we loved

Had some nose

And could sniff out little creatures

I never knew were in the back yard.

His proudest moments

Came with the presentation of a chipmunk

Or mouse or worse—

Strutting into the sunroom,

Smiling at me with his delectable, rancid vermin.

He never understood why

I disdained the dead thing

And didn’t pat him on the head.

What he loved to lick

Turned my stomach. Why?

Because he was a dog

And I am a human.

Child of God,

You aren’t what you once were.

May your spiritual appetite

Increasingly find the ways of God

So savory and delicious

That old, fleshly desires

Are no more appealing than a

Rotting, beagle-caught critter.