THE CAT GODDESS

The cat is one of my greatest inspirations.

She is stealthy, quiet, swift bringer of death
She is cruel, a razor-
sharp dagger crowning each phalange,
creeping sometimes in shadow,
sometimes in light,
invisible in her stillness
one powerful and precise leap drags bird from air.
Her teeth carry fresh prey back to her babies,
so the infant gods will taste the blood
and know the smell
that is their life.
The kittens play violent and ecstatic with death
on their lips, then
curl around their mother as she devours the leftovers.
She is patient, warm, essence of life.
She looks up at me, my spirit sister,
And for a brief moment we are one.