The river on rainy days
shivers a pock-marked snakeskin
surface, swirling lazily
through a pointillist landscape
while the willow weeps raindrops
on chattering sparrows; cool
showering in foliage
wet rooms with the bigger birds;
safe from overhead falcons.
The disinterested gaze
of watching meadow cattle
still steaming from their bold charge;
the heavy brigade, at odds
with the silent bovine joy,
with the less than streamlined form
now sinking its cloven claws
into the lush green pasture;
at odds with the brown-cow eyes
shining with life and a living truth.