The Goddess Dances (The Cougar Chooses to Dance)

in a dream last night I saw four mountain lions, cougars they were in pairs:

the first pair were half-grown cubs maybe four or five feet long they were mid-brown in color their muzzles were brown, so I knew they were young

one cub came at me in some sort of lunge it moved so fast that when I shot with my pistol, the bullet missed its head on the left side

I turned to run away into a half-open space with grass, up in the mountains Uri, my son, was with me there

we saw another pair, one young like the other two, but one was huge. it was between Uri and me its muzzle was black-tinged— it was probably a mother. it was so massive, I knew I could not stop it with a pistol bullet if it charged, so I did not shoot.

she was six feet away. there was no way I could escape, so I watched her rear back upright on two feet and spiral and spin in a dance, spin and swirl, head high, slowly twirl and spin—

“maul” is the word. she could have. . . —but instead, she let me watch her spin and twirl in a dance before me