BETTY NICHOLSON


Yugoslav Summer


Black and white cows
with crumpled horns
stray over fields
of paint box green;

cottonwool clouds
wander the sky
a fat-red barn
spills scented hay.

Basket willows
shade a secret stream
and old farmer Pavic
stares up at the sky.

One of his cows lies
its legs in the air
and the farmer's daughter
sits still as a stone.

Only her hands move,
tremble and writhe,
two trapped birds
with no place to fly.