Holding Abigail In My Arms

holding Abigail in my arms my cat is treated to lessons mother passed on to me bury your face in her neck and gently rub your cheek she will arch backward into the nuzzling chew softly on her ears the more you pay attention to the back of the head the brain will fire neuropathways and the memories of mother will come thru she pulls back into that look where we take turns rubbing cheeks cheek to cheek we declare we belong to one another Anatole France noted until you have loved an animal you are only a half soul sometimes my nights need a bit more to settle the day's dust the little bottle in the bathroom comes in the same pink box i remember wrapping at Christmas the joy in that present for her and that is all it takes full concentration for the night's list of those in my deepest prayer one little spray from that bottle and i am in church next to my mother lost in the wonderment of a congregation devoted to the good of mankind united in prayer and song such are the neuropathways of mother God's creatures are blessed as such mother and a single spray of White Shoulders OKC 2/23