Wednesday, October 19, 2016

BARN IN AUTUMN




 SOMEWHERE IN THE WEST

The old (marvelous)
        barn
somewhere 
    in the west
(doesn't matter where)

Was looking out
     as if with 
          a giant 
square eye on yet 
          another
  cool, fresh autumn morn
         --one more, maybe
in its hundredth year

Was it totally abandoned?
     No more 
milking cows or stabling
            saddle horses?

Not likely "abandoned" ----
    Maybe a home now
         for the usual 
      denizens
like barn swallows
       mud-daubers, crows,

      and likely
  A skunk, a slinky weasel,
           a solitary porcupine
     a random scorpion
and who knows what
           creatures

Every being needs a home
     and
          the rather nice earthy
   smell of old sweet hay
                  decaying
in the barn floor, plus its
      slight warmth
can be       appealing
       to critters

(Ky-oties don't cotton
      much to barns---
          forget them)

Now a little fragrant 
    left-over hay
       in the hayloft
would attract a 
      roving-line-cowboy...

It would be a perfect place
    to throw
        his bedroll
    (with his tarp)

Any shelter
     appeals 
   to a cowboy

Were the cracks 
      planned
or
    was the wood
green...and shrank?

And who stole 
      the door?

The world seems
     to have passed
on by
    and who cares
anyway
     about an old barn
with a square eye

I'll tell you who

Those with perception---
     poetry in their souls
Those with eyes for
     beauty...and history...
Those seeking meaning
     and inspiration
(tired of the madding 
     crowds)

Those who seek 
     solitude
     cool mountain air...
    
 .....and peace.
*************
BY MIL
10/16/16
Photographer unknown





    









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