Career

for Nachiketas

Tether the cow to the post of your patience
and wait
First make ready the field in which you choose to let her loose
There where no lilacs grow
nor lotuses in the pond of your astrological gaze

If you haven't enough cut-grass in the loft
Make sure your sickle doesn't rake through touch-me-nots and lallang

You may only prepare the pasturing ground
You cannot make your cow browse in it
all her dogged years
her udder bitten
fangs sunk in stealth
milk mixed with venom
milched in terror
suckling in horror

You may not clear your fields
of
toads
snails
snakes
or centipedes

They are the legitimate heirs of the land
where
you plan to graze your cow
You may only tend to her when she comes home
if she comes
by her own will
acknowledging not a master
but an inherited contract
thus
you may milk her but at this appointed hour
with this can
two-spans-full
if you give her fresh grass and barley
before she goes
'cause she is bespoken to patience