Winding Down.
The last rumbling tractor halts to eject
village farmhands
and silence greets dusk as day dies in
satisfied yawns
.
Dry laundry on lines tangles and wets
in twilight drizzle
while cats doing their rounds
watch for dinner in hay-ricked barns
as scent of baked bread
mixes roast aroma with pie smells to
welcome fok trundling home.
A hungry owl screams and wives shut
away free-ranging hens
for fox often roams in gloaming\'s cover
and eyes chicks for supper.
Kitchens now lit with simmering sparks
of aproned activity
wipes red cheeks with floury glance
at hall clock and ticks off baking
done and ready.
Boiling eggs brownly chink in pans for
immediate starters and cream
clots in stirred and hearthed tins to fill
scones for empty returners.
Dozing herders, sheep-folded canines flop
dog-tired nearest fireside warmth
and any commands to move over fall on
ears deafened by well earned snores.
Yard\'s old gates creak as young maids
take last peeps at labouring ewes
sheltering under nearby
hedgerows and hope morrow\'s dawn
will break drier on hillsides
for suckling in squally chill can carry off
fragile new-borns and female
hearts bend toward needs in nature.
Day winding down again sees nighttime
make rainy descent
on countryside holdings and those
whose labour rarely ends.