Along the Trace

And in the quiet of a finished day, there was an echo of rapid thunder

Midjourney Art created by author

There was a ragged bison, that dragged slow steps
through tall grass, scarred the earth with deliberate task.

He passed a wagon camp and picked clover with cracked lips
from inside the leather boot of a twisted human skeleton.

He passed a fishing village and licked rotten tomatoes
piled in the doorway of a burned out storefront.

He passed an empty tent filled with woven blankets
and licked scattered oatmeal with a black tongue.

And in the quiet of a finished day, there was an echo of rapid thunder,
a spiral of musket breath that left him heaving with a flicking tail,

a descending ache — the trickling sound of noises in his gut,
a blinking eye that watched a grass blade grow from dirt.

©️ Trapper Markelz 2023