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\'s aroma with pie smells to
welcome kin 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
wipe red cheeks with floury glances
at hall clock and tick off baking
done and ready.
Eggs brownly chink in boiling 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 near fireside warmth
and any commands to move over fall on
ears deafened by well earned snores.
Yard\'s rusty gate creaks as young maids
take a last peep 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 needy nature.
Day winding down again sees nightime
make rainy descent
on countryside holdings and folk whose
labour rarely ends.