Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BUCOLICS, by CORA MIRANDA BAGGERLY OLDER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BUCOLICS, by                    
First Line: Shut up, old sandy jersey cow
Last Line: You are only a beast.
Subject(s): Cows


Shut up, old sandy Jersey cow!
Don't wake us bellowing after your month-old bull brat.
Why should a mere mother-cow moan day and night for a calf sold to a butcher for
ten dollars?
What do we care if you miss him playing at your side?
What do we care if your breast aches for the soft touch of his lips and the bite
of his teeth?
Don't fill the air with bellowing.
Shut up!
Never again will your calf gambol at your side on the green velvet hill.
Never again will you feel the bite of his teeth, nor the warm sucking pull of
his lips.
His blood stains the earth.
His strong, young body is hanging in the butcher's stall.
Human mothers are buying your son for cutlets, roast, stew, and hash. In relish
they smack their lips over him.
Shut up, old sandy Jersey cow!

But why rage at you?
You don't know better.
You are only a beast.





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