Sharing the Bounty

We carried corn

For the deer;

Blocks of salt-lick, too,

Strollin’ through fields like snail’s teeth,

Wearing lumberjack shirts & fuzzy-eared hats.

Our boots, muddy,

Wet & slick;

Lower lips, filled with “chew.”

Thinkin’ we was doin’ God’s Work:

Some o’ this & some o’ that.

Broken branches

Filled our path,

Snappin’ in the fog—

& we dreamed Big Dreams,

Like conquerin’ distant Worlds.

Crossin’ streams

With tight-rope toes,

Steppin’ on old logs.

(Millions o’ miles in the air,

Where we’d meet Angel Girls.)

Such memories form

On grainy, rainy days—

Marchin’ through time’s sumptuous mist.

As muses clenched our tattered clothes,

& love-tears got caught in a spider webs.

The corn & salt,

Sweat & walks,

Long-since bitter-kissed.

Where are those idle dream-boys now?

Swept away by life’s flows & ebbs.

Video: https://youtu.be/7RPEBUEv9z8

PAINTING: “Sharing the Bounty Deer and Pheasants” By Terry Redlin