Fic: The Odyssey, xxxix. calves

[anon_j_anon]

--

Their twelfth mission found them facing
cows and bulls once again
the cows were the color
of deep copper and gold grain
their coats reflecting the fierce sun
like a god’s chosen claim
their eyes were deep red like
the sun setting at dusk
their horns were like amber
their hooves colored rust
in the herd stood one young calf
newly born, golden white
lowing at his prone mother
who was dead from her plight
Christine jumped into action
ordered the away team to find
a dead calf with live mother
so a switch might be designed
and indeed, Darwin found one
a cow bronze and black
who was licking her dead young
trying to rouse it back
Christine, Darwin, Madeleine
brought the white calf to the cow
covered it in the fluids
of the dead infant’s brow
the cow smelled and tasted
this odd colored babe
but slowly accepted the child
as her own and soon laved
him over and over
with her great muscled tongue
allowed him to drink milk
and forgot the dead one.
They did not take it upon them
to seek out more dead calves
but they did what they could
in the situations they had.
They all understood
that this is the harsh tide
the way evolution
keeps all species alive
but it did not stand to reason
not to do what they could
if they found they could help
if they found something good
would it make big a difference
one life of one calf?
in the wide scheme of things
nothing special in that
but in the wide scheme of things
everything became small
and in the wide scheme of things
life was nothing at all
so fuck the wide scheme of things
they would do what they could
if they found they could help
if they found something good.

--