Elizabeth Coatsworth

From “Cockle Shells”

I HAVE seen cows that lay in the summer meadows,

Hearing the sound of breezes amidst the grass

While every hair in the sunlight glittered with rainbows.

Oh, but they were bland and placid and smooth and beautiful!

Their mates were great bulls with curl-matted horns

And the bellow of lions.

Their offspring were playful and gay,

With innocent staring eyes.

Laborers toiled in the fields to find them food for the winter,

And built them against the wind dark temples scented with hay;

While women eased them of milk

That swelled their udders at twilight.

I have seen cows that lay in the meadows like gods,

Breathing forth peace that smelled of dampness and clover.