The Stable, Poem by Emile Verhaeren

Poem by Emile Verhaeren Period 19th century

And full of magnificent cattle, the stable,
On the left hand, near the manured heaps stacked high,
Shutters closed, slept a heavy, warm sleep,
Under the close-packed rays of an irritable sun.

In the muggy heat of the farm at rest,
In the steam rising from the smoking litter,
Oxen raised the rock of their proud rumps
And cows lowed very softly, their eyes half-closed.

Striking noon, the many farmhands cleaned the troughs
And filled them with hay, lavender, sage,
Which the beasts crushed with a heavy chewing;

While the numb and hardened fingers of the servant girls
Stretched long the hanging udders
And stripped the taut teats, coarsely.

Emile Verhaeren

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