MOONLIT MORNING
July 12, 2006
Big, bright and full
of hope – coffee
and quiet opportunity
to shake dreams loose
and wake my mind
to process calves
we must sell.
Another moonlit morning
slips through the saddle
and leaves me in the dark
filling my watering can
at three a.m.,
to keep flowers alive
until I get back
to rescue them
from 103 degrees
of life-sucking heat -
or be casualties
of cattle work.
for Meg & Susan
It makes perfect sense to me that Robbin writes a poem about a moment before her work day begins and that I might try to photograph the moon at much the same time the next morning, once again rising in the dark to finish processing our calves to sell on the Internet. The all-natural 7-weight calves sold immediately off Stampede’s Country Page. Our split load of lighter calves will probably sell Wednesday on their auction, not qualifying for the “all-natural” appellation but for a few, but identified, doctored eyes.