Marilyn Humbert
Then and Now
gemstone coloured
clouds of butterflies…
my twirling dance
cloaked in gossamer silk
among painted ladies
Summer school holidays. My chore is to round up the cows in time for evening milking. It’s hot. The flies stick like glue to my face as I wander to the top paddock. The herd dotted here and there are fat and lazy, reluctant to move after all day munching lush green clover.
I hear Dad’s yodel, a faraway echo, calling them home. The matriarch lifts her head and starts slowly for the gate.
summer’s end
behind the cow herd
the steady beat
of hooves and small feet
single file to home
The sunken narrow cow-trail is bare and dusty. A wafting breeze stirs the familiar smell of sweaty cows, dung and urine. The sun lower in the sky, now behind me, casts long shadows. Near the dam, I break off a willow-wand and flick slurping cows knee-deep in muddy water.
at the pond
I kick off my thongs
—so soothing
the squelching mud
between tired toes
Those days are long gone. Now retired and married more than 50 years, I stir slowly from dreaming…
we wake at dawn
kick-start the beemer
and cruise
windblown and smiling
towards tomorrow
About the Autor
Marilyn Humbert lives on Darug and GuriNgai land in Berowra, NSW, Australia. Her tanka and haiku appear online and in print in many international and Australian journals and anthologies, and her free-verse poems have been awarded prizes in competitions and published widely. She is a member of the editing team for the Australian haiku journal Echidna Tracks.