Running Heifer

SHE comes racing over the knoll, tail up,
ears pricked, sleek in her summer coat,
the white belly like milk under her flanks.

On the crest she stops, eyes shining,
each muscle like steel that is flexed,
her nostrils fanning with her breath. The life force runs strong in her,
the blood joy, opening bud of flesh,
beautiful here under the June sun.

And over her head in the space blue
the galaxies run noiseless and hidden,
ageless to her, light-years their cycles,
and she poised a second on this knoll
tasting delight in the first year of her ten.