A Season to Remember

There is something peaceful about a barn at night,

something musical in all the ordinary sounds

as animals in random weariness settle down.

With rhythmic chewing of cuds,

drowsing cattle drop ponderous bodies

on bedding straw crackling,

their busy innards rumbling

in harmony with saddle ponies munching

last morsels of grain from feedbox corners,

while prowling cats rustle across the hay,

eyes radar-beamed for careless mice.

Slumbering pigeons rouse on lofty perches

and coo contentedly in the cupola,

as moon ribbons glisten through frosted windows

stirring faint shafts of light into soft shadows,

gathering in all the busy peacefulness

of a barn at night.