The calf falls into the world, it struggles to stand on spindly legs,
stumbles beneath its mother for that first milk.
I lurch out of bed to face the day
Stronger now, the baby sticks close to its grazing mother, trots to keep up
when she moves to another bit of grass.
I watch the sun shoulder the night away
Cud chewing time, the cow kneels to the ground,
the youngster beside her.
In the thicket, I hear the wood thrush pipe in the spring morning
Grass glistens in the warming sun,
the calf careens down the hill.
And I take 3 little pills to keep up with the day
Barbara Brooks, author of “The Catbird Sang” and “A Shell to Return to the Sea” chapbooks, is a member of Poet Fools. Her work has been accepted in Avalon Literary Review, Chagrin River Review, The Foundling Review, Blue Lake Review, Third Wednesday, Peregrine, Tar River Poetry among others.
