Duffy and Penny

For Duffy and Penny-two fine dogs.

PAST and PRESENT

He was my dog
My friend my life.
Wherever I went
He was by my side.
What would I do without him?
And one grim day
He was no more.
His happy face
And wagging tail
Were no longer
There to greet me.

But one day
Another came
Just like him.
And I poured
All my love for him
Into her.
And she grew
To be no longer
In his shadow
But an individual
With a personality
All her own.
She became my
Close companion.
We do all those
Things together.
Her happy face
And wagging tail greet me.
She is my dog
My friend my life.

Mary Jo Stahl
April 15 1986