A Prayer to Menkar

Menkar, star of Cetus,
I know what passion drives you
To ensnare, to dissect, to flavor our understanding
With the fruits of devouring
All that lies beneath, between, within.
Menkar, salt-maker, turning poison
To preservation, to medicine, to vitating agent
With your firm walls imprisoning
That which, transmuted, makes us live.
Menkar, ill-fortuned, you shine
In my heavens, sun-touched as the seas
You would constrain, contravene, control.
May I be those seas, and that salt,
Those wounds and their healing.
May I embody your gifts
As deeply as I know your harms–
A light in deep places,
A safety in our dark.