THIRD CALF

She knows now,
how to be a mother—
shield innocence

with shadow
and sharp eye,
give meaning

to the soft talk
that reverberates
with familiarity

upon each breath,
the language of cows:
the umbilical stretched

from the warm womb
to grow and graze
a dry and brittle world.

Born in a drought,
she can be a mother
in any kind of weather.