I saw god in a cat

Today I saw god in a cat
I’m not a cat lover
I’m not religious
But I know I saw god in a cat

He was stretched in repose
on my friend’s porch
meowing at his doorstep at the empty catfood bag
maybe not noticing the open wound on his neck

He turned to look at us
with feline eyes
with expectance and condescencion
he stared at me
as I caressed his open neck
Horrorstricken

Scalding water, the scold for being a street cat
Scalding water, he’s scum for being a street cat

He watched me
looking at his bloody dry neck
inspecting his 3 day old scars
from a previous encounter with the primitive neighbor

His open neck,
the empty cat food bag,
the scalding water,
some barking dogs,
a watching neighbor

god sat there on the porch
meowing at my hands
playing with the jingling keys
at my gay,
black,
atheist
friend’s hands