Each Morning Before Dawn I Woke

Each Morning Before Dawn I Woke

Each morning before dawn I woke

To get the cattle on the hill

As long before the daylight broke,

Hungrily they ate their fill.

I sought cows all around about

A shade of scrubby foliage

Till I would make the cattle out,

Blearily by a darker edge;

Unwilling to forsake their spot

Amidst profound obscurity,

In hoping I would find them not

The cattle hid away from me;

Playing a game of hide and seek

That overnight I came to stalk

Throughout a never-ending week

For in my sleep I used to walk.

(I’d found the evidence by day

Of what I’d do the night before

In little scattered swaths of hay

Left helter-skelter on the floor.)

So seeking that which wasn’t there

Pursuant of my double quest

I searched for cattle everywhere

And never found a bit of rest.

That would explain my weariness

As I was tired now and then,

Since I was twice beneath duress,

To do what I did once again,

And then again whilst, as it were,

Unable to discern between

What did and what did not occur,

Or whether it had ever been.