I Pray to Bast
Mother-Protector
of cats and people
please look after me –
so I can look after
this sweet creature
who has come into my care.
Don’t let her dig her tiny claws
too sharply into my skin,
even when it’s only to hold on.
Let her know I’ve got her!
I’ll cradle her gently but firmly.
I won’t let her fall.
Tiny though she is
she has been a queen,
matriarch of many kittens.
Now she has retired
from motherhood, but not
from being imperious.
Astonishingly, she trusts me –
even allows me affection.
Keep me worthy of this, I pray.
Allow her to know that I know
what is safest for her here
in my home, now hers.
Help me, please, to understand
her voiced commands
her body language
her meaningful stare.
Help me turn power struggles
into cooperation.
Meanwhile I rearrange
tools and objects to give her
a path across the heights
of our living space.
(She likes to climb. I like
her being able.)
Mother-Protector Bast,
thank you for your wisdom
and agency, bringing us
together, here and now
in our good maturity,
in ways that are right for cats.
