Cantos for Cows

"Cantos For Cows"   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^UNO^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Sun embraced plains
fill horizons irregular  
with past
glories  
lived.
 
Castles once grand
in projected power
now sit as homes
for fox and kites.
 
The Don
that estimable Don's giants
make wearisome noises
bones grinding.
 
Everywhere there are
black shadows
revealing themselves only
upon inspection.
 
Graced with soft brown
eyes
The patience of a herd
chewing time.  

They live
upon the sufferance of those
dusky
hued men with
hard hands. 

 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^DOS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 
Each a Caballero's
caballero
a lord unto
himself.
 
Master of
manifest
destiny.
 
Those lords of  
the herd
have their ways.
 
Un-tanned leather
Sweat, old wine
stale heat
manure. 
 
Content  
to be Bacchus' boracho
on an  
olive'd
plain.
 
Masculinity  
in a wine skin
callused hands
guiding liquid  
to
parched throats.
 
Tonsured saints
treading pilgrims path
what help are they
when calves  
come breached? 
 
Bowls of wine
blood soaked
pine limbs
may this address
the need of  
a herdman's
Moon Goddess.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^TRES^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Dream imagined
vision
Stock tank
mirrored surface.
 
Cattle come
using reciprocating  
movements
to long
shanks.
 
Thrusting soft
leather lips
to
cool moisture.
 
By their very  
touching
They mimic  
themselves
 
Horned ripples  
across its
face
two herds
meet.
 
Nose to nose
both seeming
to sup
from each
other.
 
Swallows fly
chasing their
evening  
meal
across bovine
shoulders.
 
Distorted images merge
as the sun
sets
Both herds become
one.
 
The Milky Way pours
over the  
horizon
spilling even to a lone
stock tank.
 
Coating its surface
with a map  
of eternity.
 
-El Final-
 
-DS Baker