A Visitation of Cattle in SE1

Late summer evening
The cattle of recollection
Breach the field’s brow

Low-strung skulls nodding
To the gentle pressing ahead
Through grass studded with
Dandelion and shabby dock

Their broad flanks warm
To the amorous air

Dragonflies no less
Along the river’s bank

And somewhere behind
The farmer (he is out of sight)
Calls out, bemused
To find his cattle
Gone from the gate

The place they gather
To receive their
Every evening meal

It is to you they come
Just this once

Lowing and subdued
Advancing over
The ancient geography
Of the rutted hill

To springtime
Where you lie wakeful
In a borrowed flat
In Bermondsey Street

Waiting to count them in