Memoir of cattle, cats and dingoes
The sniper came that day
In crisply ironed checkered shirt
And dirty blue king gee shorts
He looked a man to trust
For certain
To rid the place of vermin
Rolled my eyes in the next dull sermon
Damn those dingoes taking cattle
Dad did complain
See them skeletons
Through binoculars
Oh yes see I them well
In that gorge beyond the creek
I asked oh please do tell?
Inside I hid a pensive grin
On his gnarly knee did hop me
Daddy I said
Is that why the cattle are now dead?
Not knowing quite sure where this might have led?
Bastards those cunning dogs
Have slaughtered them upon some logs
So today he stuttered with no delay
His breath did smell of stinking hay
Time to exterminate those pesky dogs
My mind then drifted back
It was just a little pile I stacked
No one was meant to get hurt
Could it be possible that I could say?
Well then let’s not despair
Without a care he uttered
We have some bullets maybe spare
Lets kill the damned nuisance cats
Include them in- let’s off them as well
And the bloody war did reign with force and stealth
Marched on like death squad in beaming health
Does he not care about that sweet tabby ‘marigold’?
She has grown up now -getting a tad bit old
As motley kitten
I fed, and reared
I didn’t offer this out loud
As there seemed a jolly mixed up crowd
A little girls voice was just not a choice
Mummies glare assured
Indeed ‘twas not at all allowed
Lets eat some lunch on the porch
Time for tea and pumpkins scones
Its time to fill our tummies
So it was me that had to shush!
Off to sulk behind the acacia bush
Quietly I watched on in despair
Later the game was on
The sniper did shoot from vast distance, and steadied stare
Swoosh down they went one by one
He sure did snuff them out
All righty then said the man who cocked the gun
In the rosy setting of the sun
My day is done
But before I ride away on horse of course
Lets drown those felines in the river
No bullets left
Strewn all about were empty shells
So in they went scratching
Those wild cats tossed in hessian bags attacked
Did more just than hither thither
And in went old cemented pebbled bricks
So the mess would go down quick
Inside my heart it did wither shiver
Purring softly until the noise it stopped
To hell with you as the shooter hopped
I smiled as nettles stung his hairy pegs
Pushed back his Akubra hat to take a gander
As onlookers it might seem like slander
So this was the fate for the fury souls in this story
He yelled damnation in rabid voice
Was it like they had a choice?
My head fell low
In background noise there were moos and bellows
As the executioner did mention this
We will teach those damned cats a little lesson
Make them hiss
I cried inside- no more kitty calls at gardens gate
In afternoons amber glow
When the cows would come in late
Silenced meows that I would miss
Drinking warm sweet milk from jerseys’ udder
Now this all just makes me shudder
So all of them I must now must hug and kiss
Pray to god their souls to take
If virtue they never get to wake?
I must act now in deftly haste
In sight of this despairing display of waste
Oh my I feel so very sick
All these silly men are dicks
Will daddy know if I were quick?
Bloodied bags I grabbed, and poked
Inside some lives were saved
From the gallows of an early grave
In cold deep mossy waters they would not choke
And up some would pop and possibly float??
I loosened daddies’ sailors’ knot- you see
So now some would escape with glee
I hid them far away, later found the morning after
When I arrived on willowed riverbank in exalted laughter
Nursing them back to better health
It seemed the essence of honest wealth
When them killers all had gone away
For on this Pitt street farm we were here to stay
I vowed with frown and hands on hips
With buttoned rosy red pursed lips
Not to have a word to say
Forgive me Dad- I could only pray
I may even then tell of my mischief someday when?
In times ahead when I was made of Zen
That those kitties lived another day
A story of the fate that in a kinder not so sinister way
On the river-bank they swam and lived
Saved them-selves by swimming quick
Wetted paws preciously they then began to lick
I look on now with deepening sigh
Why do things have to die?
Oh daddy you wont ever know too
Those gentle golden-eyed dogs
That you had slain, in dark and deepest pain
Were not the culprits for the death of cattle?
Or some duel they had to battle
I collected them skeletons in the bush you see
Just right up there I viewed upon your knee
Through binoculars that you did stare
Displayed them all upon a log
Bones that I had gathered from times gone by
Oh my god -I do decry
Just some silly museum I built with skulls of beasts?
Those old cows it seemed at least
All had naturally died
Now you may think it might be me that lied?
Daddy you will know why now I weep
And Mummy know it’s why I wet the bed
Have nightmares, and tormented sleep
For the dingoes did no wrong
To my knowledge when looking back
It was we who did not belong
And that oh daddy
It’s why I sing this silly solemn song
I know now it was all so very wrong
Angelique L. Jenkins
12.03.15
