When the Cows Come Home

                                               My bovine little brudder

makes guests at our house shudder

For who has seen

a human being

with horns and hooves and udder?

We love the boy, and yet

can’t get his genes reset

It’s our dad’s dream

- free milk and cream -

that keeps us from the vet

My mother’s greatest fear:

One day, he’ll disappear

My dad will say

‘He’s gone astray,’

and grin from ear to ear

And so we’ll grit our teeth

and hide our guilt and grief

on his return

our stomachs churn -

A year’s supply of beef!