Feeding The Livestock

Feeding The Livestock
by Cathy Wilson


Dark little eyes
see me coming out the door
banging scoops and cans.

I hear the clomping of feathers
as I watch being watched
coming through the gate.

Dust motes fly
as they jockey for a perch
and sidel along the fence
where they whiney for more seed.

Some feign indifference
while they shuffle little hooves -
twiggy as leaf stems,
in the overhead corral.

I think they'd like to nuzzle
and bump against my hand,
for they know I'm returning,
as any rancher might,

with something good in my pocket
tucked out of sight.