Dinner With Friends

Every year at some good
time for all of us, we
gather at a long table

to serve up a sacrifice.
The butter knives are dull
enough to make slicing

down our tough spines

difficult, needless to say--
we make a mess. But it isn't
our carpet, this long table

isn't ours. We still laugh
as the plates pile up. What's
left of us sinks into the sofa,

satisfied and barely there,
and then we stumble back
into the rest of the year.