i live with two cats,
who by actions and purr
seem quite content with me…
but toward each other there is no equity,
only enmity.
awake they hiss, so sleep is bliss!
Back to back they nap,
one on a chair, the other on an ottoman,
neither realizing the ground that connects them to each other.
I see you!
We have the same color eyes!
Yes, but you have fur and i have feathers –
I see YOU!
we have the same colour claws!
Yes, but mine retract and yours are talons.
I see You.
we are the same,
only different.
beside the road, the turkey vultures are feasting
i know not what is their dinner,
but i feel like it might be me.
some days are hard.
you feel eaten up.
and just then the sky fills with hope.
it starts as a murmur – i hear/here and i look up –
and it is a whole nation!
coming home.
starling You!
there is end of season chaos everywhere,
ribbons, ornaments, decorations of all sorts and what – still more cookies?
and as i try to sort it out, i turn on a costume drama on the television,
wishing to take my mind away
from the fray –
and on the screen i see a dog in a perfect sit,
looking off screen,
not engaged in the scene – simply period set dressing,
and i follow his eyes –
thinking he is worthy of more interesting engagement than a sit stay beside a fireplace…
i follow his gaze offscreen
i find my own prince of peace,
sitting and watching me.
i need look no further for refuge –
Hey, there!
wanna go outside?
The mist is falling lightly
as i stand outside to greet my day –
a crow from somewhere unseen
caws.
searching i can not see You,
here, i hear you.
i must follow my cawling.
It brightens me awake –
oh how i would like be your friend.
perhaps we could be colleagues, fashioning our world together?
I sit in the car listening to experts speak on Beauty.
it is essential.
they say from an evolutionary point of view –
reinforcement in the now for future biological benefit.
I sit in the waiting area of a local beauty school –
haircuts are $6.
Affordable upkeep –
and i am surrounded by products promising me Beauty,
and magazines filled with hinted love –
with more than a dash of promised sex…
and there on the bottom glass shelve – (as if to remind me what Beauty really is) –
There You are, on the cover of a glossy rag –
Bright Green Beauty!
Alive!
Here!
Now!
the little anole simply blinks with modesty.
Beauty is not simply evolutionary –
Seeing it can be revolutionary!
He came to church.
just a wee One
in need of Sunday school?
no,
he was the lesson!
For i was hungry and thirsty and you did not know me….
but You invited me in!
i was given a gift, a surprise!
a piece of fire and ancient sun,
strung with bits of tiger’s eyes and ancient coral –
a necklace of sunlight and fire from a friend,
it matches some earrings my mother wore, that my grandmother made.
Thus listening adornment,
i place them into holes in my ears first pierced my my grandmother when i came of age.
but i now have more holes in my ears than utility demands …
so to keep the amber company, a small dog carved from nut adorns one side ,
and a chatoyance squirrel on the other—
and i wonder at the wisdom of such pairings
as i am the bridge in between .
I go outside into the garden and as i walk in prayer,
to prepare for the day –
You are there, dashing forward above my head on tenuous twigs –
from tree to tree, trusting your path.
and i listen to the wisdom.
and go out into the fire of the day.
we all need to be seen.
and we seem to want to be seen most by those we look up to.
here is the rub,
i forget that others are looking up to me.
and i forget to look up to myself.
and today, i was listening to someone who had forgotten too.
but i was reminded by Your purr.
You tear past me,
unleashed and happy!
i feel the wind of your path against my legs,
it blows the small dog over into a complete somersault!
even though your body does not touch us,
we are won.
and there You stand,
cool as a cucumber in the doorway –
one of so many – at the time, on sale, they were cheaper than windows –
thus now we are very chic –
who knew we would have a poodle who could open them all!
as well as my heart.
perhaps it is because he knows better than i,
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers:
for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Ministry of Animals 