Cows and Horses

It was like this –
Around a million years ago
Mad Mork was ambling home
Cutting through a field of wild cows
And feeling weary
When he had a brainwave
And climbed on the back of a cow.
He rode it home
And everyone in his village said –
Hey, that’s one wild idea.
And soon
Everyone rode the wild cows

It was like this –
Around a million years ago
Sarah had a baby but had no milk
And her friends, also with young babies,
Shared their milk with Sarah’s baby
Sarah was walking with her baby
Past some horses
And noticed a mother feeding her foal
And thought – it’s a crazy idea but it might just work
And she gave her baby some horse’s milk

And so that’s why
Horseboys ride cows
And who doesn’t love
A delicious horse milkshake?

2006

In the grey sky above Vlissengen
A bird floats by
Chased by her own shadow
And the first flakes of snow

On the radio the top two thousand
Ploughs gamely on
And the New Year waits impatiently
On the corner of a scuddy snowy street

The wind is horizontal
Stinging snow and a rock and roll wind
Blows Jill’s brolly apart

The first thunderclaps and sonic booms
Rattle the Dutch rafters and chimneys
And birds head for the country

Midnight and we raise our glass, whoop
Troop outside to witness the carnage of the old year
As the aerial bombardment begins in earnest
With screaming devils and heavy-duty explosives
And Jill says,
We were so young when we met
We’re so old now