It’s twilight and the Cat is tired. She and Raven played all day
in the wide, windy sky and danced the rumba in the treetops.
He tucks her into bed with a blanket he has made of leaves
and wants to sing a lullaby, but is afraid because his
voice sounds rough and raspy.
And yet when he begins to sing
Slumber my darling
Your Raven is near
Guarding your dreams
From terror and fear….
even the mice and the crickets of the forest become silent.
The Cat is too sleepy to understand his words.
She feels instead a longing in his voice.
And as she falls into her world of dreams,
his song coils around her in a ribbon of
saffron-colored petals.
©2010 J.M. Keating