Sonnet to a Guernsey Cow seen on L’Ancresse Common - Joan Willard

O, gorgeous beast, with well-horned handsome head,
Small dainty hooves, straight back and slender tail.
Your colour, shades of amber, brown and red,
Which blends to subtle creamy fawn, quite pale
Around soft eyes; each one a dreamy pool,
Their sweet expression mirrors inward calm.
Your bearing, well-bred, quiet, poised, is cool
And tranquil. Grazing, causing no man harm,
You pace around on your allotted pitch,
Close to the golden, flowering, spiky gorse,
Until the farmer saunters to unhitch
The tether that confines you to this course.
Your noble forebears journeyed here from France,
Brought by the monks, our island to enhance.

Joan Willard