Cat's Eyes

I looked deep
into the kohl-streaked
eyes of Bastet
at the pyramids, the Nile
and all of Ptolemaic Egypt
echoing double-pipes,
a lyre and the rumbling thrum
of breath playing over
lapis-inlaid sistrum
while sandalwood burned
and the room was perfumed
by attar of roses and lotus blooming
preserved across the thousands
of years it took to ride
in Charon's boat
across the River of Time
and become the Sphinx-like expression
in my cat's eyes.