The Cow

[Cindy]

We came upon a skeleton in the woods once.
The pale bones startled us,
Our play suddenly forgotten.

The fallen pieces puddled loosely
Upon a patch of bald, cracked earth.
It had only been a cow, but...

The silence of our wonder added to
The austere serenity of those bones.
We breathed their regal stillness
And stood on sacred ground.

We were strangers, unwelcome guests.
Appalled at our clumsy intrusion,
We made our way out of the
Mausoleum to the open field.

Under the bright summer sun,
We spoke soberly of the cow
And I dreamed of it that night,
Lost and alone in the dark woods.

I did go back, not long after,
To look for those pale, lonely bones,
But not one remained.

The cow was now completely gone,
Or was it?

I listened.

Was that only the wind, or
Did I hear a gentle lowing drift among the trees?

[Stella]

Oh Cindy, this is so haunting and i like it very much. I also enjoyed the way you described the bones as being " puddled loosely", that was a unique way of describing the image and very true because that is what old skeletal bones look like.
I am sure you did hear the gentle lowing among the trees, ghostly but lovely too

[Karin Anderson]

A most poignant, profound and sensitive poem Cindy that had my eyes glued from the first line to the last. I have read it three times to admire
your perception of bones like no other and your question mark after the last two lines had me thinking too! Also thank you for sharing Cindy and it's lovely to read your work again.

[Cindy]

Thank you, Stella and Karin. I'm so glad you both enjoyed it. It has been a long time since I wrote anything. I went to a workshop and the theme was "memoirs in poetry". I had written about memories before, but had never thought of poetry in that way. It was very inspirational.