My Paws Grow Strong

author’s note:

“The multiplicity of gods correspondeth to the multiplicity of man.”
                --  C.G. Jung


MY PAWS GROW STRONG

They parade our gods
when we die--

the gods we carried,
plainly hidden.

When we die
people feel the need to say
the truths that sound
like make-believe:
to say that
she was creation, sun
and moon--

she broke stones open

into bread; made her blood
into milk
for her children.

Even when a man curls up
to grub in a cave
until the end of his days
he battles, just like any natural god
of trial and error.

Yes, but what about me--?--
a small voice squeaks:

I hope people will appreciate
the claw marks this cat
striped on the trees--

but even more, I want them to know
how--in the process--my paws grew strong…

They can, they will
if they look into
the water of my well
and see a mirror.

© 2010, Michael R. Patton

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