Cat on the Wing

by Jacqueline Moore

Cat on the Wing
— Om mane padme hum

Mistress of the wind
and prayer flags,
hunted for her hide

cat-on-the-wing
with her Bodhisattva face
and moonlight tail

cruising the ridge lines,
spraying her pee
on our prayer flags

dropping her scat
fresh as moon petals
in our dooryard

eating our sheep
our goat-kids
scattering bones

crouching behind
our stupa,
flanks quivering

as we mortals, heavy
with the weight
of being-in-the-world

sink in snowdrifts
as she leaps
over the peaks

looking down at us,
our stupas,
our fields of barley

smiling her yogin smile
as we set the bait
in our pitfall trap.