just a closer walk with thee

Night time at the chateau.
I am alone in the front room.
Praying the rosary.
It is a Catholic prayer where you meditate on mysteries from Jesus' life while reciting an Our Father and ten Hail Marys to go with each mystery.
My two hands are resting on the wings of the armchair.
As I pray, MC Hamster peeps out from the sleeve of my left hand.
She drags herself out via the palm of my hand onto the chair and looks up at me.
I keep praying.
She stays quite still for three Hail Marys.
Then she turns around, scrabbles briefly at the sleeve, gets traction with her nose, and squeezes back from whence she came.
Not for the first time, I am struck by the strange mystic dignity of creatures.