Universal Gesture

 

she stands at the window

cradling a cup of coffee

in both hands 

something in a minor key

playing on the radio

makes her close her eyes

go quiet inside 

takes a sip of coffee

laced with music

outwaits the song again

"We circle in the night and are consumed by fire".

 

we circle in the night around the fire

are consumed by it

even as we take it in, worship it,

admit our need for warmth

for heat, for nourishment

as the fire feeds us

taking and giving in balance

until we come too close

and that which sustained

reaches out

caresses our hair and our skin

like any lover, pulls us in

and we fall, weeping, into the thing we love

becoming the thing we love

at last

Map

Map

Once you know the way--

where the road makes that sharp left turn

at the corner, and rises 

slowly to the crest of the hill

just where that stand of white pine

waits to shelter you 

from the sun, or the weather

once you reach that point

pause, look back, 

see  how far you've come

and know you're almost home

Mouse and Cat

 several years ago we had an influx (to put it gently) of mice in the kitchen.  every drawer, every open space, was visited, and I spent every morning cleaning out every drawer of their calling cards.  brrr. 

 I have two cats.  

charlie is big and fluffy and his idea of hunting is to catch a mouse and lick it to death.  He thinks they are all squeaky toys and when they no longer squeak he abandons them.  Toby is lithe and quick and loves nothing more than mouse in the morning.  I had noticed at the time that his summer quarters in the front bedroom were regularly dotted with mouse carcasses (carcassi?).   Sure enough during the early winter he began catching a mouse a night, and depositing the leftovers (to be polite) on my husband's side of the bed. Gooood  kitty.  We kept track, and by the end of the winter he had taken out 21 mice.  At least.  I found the mouse nest in the closet (don't ask) and closed up the huge holes in the same closet with cement-in-a-sock.  The mouse invasion stopped for several years. 

Charlie and Toby are now senior cats, and Toby is getting to look more like a toast rack with fur, so I moved his bedding into the dining room, near the stove, and his food, and his litter box.  he is now no longer terrified of me,  just a bit wary.  And the mice have returned.  I've taken to putting down serious mouse traps and have bagged at least ten so far.  Expensive, but effective.    This morning I came down stairs and into the dining room to my laptop, set up on the diningroom table.  When I looked down I saw, to my delight, a half mouse, directly where my foot would be when I sat down.

I am assuming that Toby is thanking me for the new place to sleep, and the new food, and this is his way of  giving back.  And I am honored.  =)