Bravery

A rung’s

come broken in the

ladder to the mow

and so one hesitates

to clamber up there

just to bomb a cow

with dung or bother

swallows from their

rafter cakes. It takes

a new footing some-

where in the ribs’

treads, about heart-

height, to climb it

now. A new gap’s in

the smile that smiles

from the limed barn

floor. There seems

to come a break in

the war. But soon, one

of a neighbor’s sons,

too young to know

it was otherwise once,

braves it, and soon,

even with a sweater-

swaddled kitten or a

BB gun, all the kids

can do it again, nearly

at a run, like pros, and

so it goes, as before.