Poetry Monday | 4 | An Old Collaboration

The Greatest Good
co-written by my good friend Tom.

Greenery and pastures brush my leg,

grass grown with my very hands.

I feed the cattle with vodka.

I learned the ways from our fathers,

who taught to me the greatest good.

It did not take long, only thirty years or so,

but in that time I have grown old.

Now, too late, I have taken up my father's ways.

Sow the seed, grow the hops,

torch the families mark on bovinian skin.

Children rhymes, playing games in the road,

turn to endless study, for a number never more than four;

then to the old ways. I'm torn apart like paper.

I feed the cattle with vodka.

I rest my head on the gate,

staring across acres, growing with every generation.

A night passes, a woman passes.

Despite the laws of my fathers, I leave my bed, for another.

I feed the cattle with vodka.

Vodka pouring down, every night, a new bosom, I caress.

My father looks down and cries purple darkness,

the sun sets upon his land, looking east, I see

greenery and pastures, that brush my leg.

Here, as said by law, must be the greatest good.

What is it? What is this good?

I feed the cattle with vodka.

I look to the drink and watch the flies buzz,

drunk, the sun sets on their backs, too drunk.

What is it? What is this good?

Fire! The feild of my lover is ablaze.

I race against the river,

too late, my lover gone, I have only my love. I cannot cry.

The words of my father, "One" echo.

His law, the greatest good. One bosom at night.

The cattle go hungry this night.

The green pasture yellows, as a new acre is sprung,

grass, grown with my very hands.

Sun rises on one end of the family farm, near me, dusk.

I dig a hole in the ground and bury my troubles.

Is this it? Is this the greatest good?

The words of my father sound different today.

The cattle are dead, my pasture is brown, a last bit of light.

I pack my bags and walk away.

Against the law, I turn west, the sun no longer moves.

A dandelion catches my heel, I stare and think of

my love, my kin, my cattle, my pasture. I look back, smile,

and realize what is the greatest good.