Evening Feeding

Feeding stock morning and evening,
I take sweet pride
in watching them as they eat,
these humble beasts
that give their short lives without meaning.

I listen to the sound of their eating,
the swish of tails,
the occasional stamp of a foot, 
and am filled with thanks
for the simple pleasure of being.

To sit in a milk barn with cows
slows the body down
and brings a mammalian comfort
that cannot be found
in the rush of autos and planes.

The quieting sound of chewing
brings a calm we miss
from that milky world we were born to  
at our mothers’ breasts.