Around the corner, lying on her side in a stable of hay, The cow breathed heavily, her chest heaving, raising And falling, thawing the air around her body. It was too dark to see much, the sky a periwinkle grey, Absent of darkness and yet absent of day. Purgatory. Two milky hooves came first, but when the head came It was angular and contorted, covered in thick, slimy mucus, Like a beast from somewhere beyond this earth. Seemingly lifeless, yet shaking obliquely, innately, As if possessed by some power of light or dark. Then a neck, a torso and two more legs, With a this delicate creature was born. sudden “plop”, It was something ethereal yet something so worldly, So natural and intrinsic. I could not bring myself to speak. A cautious pink beam casting white light through the door, Tenuously growing into something resolute, scattering In shards off the warm wetness of the animal. And with a rustling And a scuffle, the cow scrambles up, licking her calf As it stumbles into life.
Around the corner, lying on her side in a stable of hay, The cow breathed heavily, her chest heaving, raising And falling, thawing the air around her body. It was too dark to see much, the sky a periwinkle grey, Absent of darkness and yet absent of day. Purgatory. Two milky hooves came first, but when the head came It was angular and contorted, covered in thick, slimy mucus, Like a beast from somewhere beyond this earth. Seemingly lifeless, yet shaking obliquely, innately, As if possessed by some power of light or dark. Then a neck, a torso and two more legs, With a sudden “plop”, this delicate creature was born. It was something ethereal yet something so worldly, So natural and intrinsic. I could not bring myself to speak. A cautious pink beam casting white light through the door, Tenuously growing into something resolute, scattering In shards off the warm wetness of the animal. And with a rustling And a scuffle, the cow scrambles up, licking her calf As it stumbles into life.
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