Gray, white, black,
ridges and valleys,
swirls, holes, and protrusions,
fallen oak tree bark.

From deep creek bottom shadows,
into bright sun lit grass, verdant,
Angus cows graze towards the pond,
rusted barbed wire between us.

On the pasture's edge,
leafless mesquite tree,
Old and looming,
green from the mistletoe it feeds.

Marking the road in the distance,
orange t-posts evenly spaced,
disappearing over the rise,
as it heads towards town.

Gravel and white dust mark,
the passage of a blue truck,
loaded with red feed sacks,
a cow bellows from out of sight.

Movement catches my eye,
a streak of brown and white,
leaps over two fences,
and the road, and emerges into the pasture.

Whitetail deer first one, then many,
appear in the pasture,
grazing in winter rye grass,
the cows left behind.