Of Cows
Perhaps they just lie there
flat on their udders and the ground
rumbling away to each other
at a distance, low frequency like elephants.
Not empty, staring into nothing;
their bellies communicant.
Backends collapse onto the grass like deckchairs:
the very spot they’d checked out -
nosing, sensing the Ley of the land
rather than which way to face
or in whose company.
Then, knees folding neatly under,
the great body elegantly subsides -
plonk! with irrefutable knowing,
and irreversible certainty
- just so, just here.
She is not biding her moment,
without anything to do till milking time
or for the rain to stop.
She can mooch and chew her cud
regardless;
unbothered by schedules, expectations;
A great Buddha of simple beingness
seen by the man-mind as a lumbering, if useful lump,
besides emitter of methane,
eater-up of expensive space.
April