Tom
forking hay into an old wheelbarrow
as goats
long eared Nubians all
hustle him
nudging affectionately
their new friend
I was stretching my legs
after a long car ride
while you input the code
to access our cheese
had walked around the barn’s corner and seen
Tom
Apprenticed to the cheese makers
feeding their goats
he paused to introduce us
to half grown kids
butting and bouncing
talked of his deep joy
at tending animals
The same joy I see
in our youngest son
apprenticed engineer
loving the machining
mathematics
and camaraderie
Later we sent him a photo
of happy goats
and a happy Tom
and received a picture
of aircraft undercarriage
and a wish for a pet goat
Copyright © 2020 Kim Whysall-Hammond
For Tom and Paul, at the start of adult life. Light in our darkness.
The Cheesesellers Wife 
Blessed are the cheese makers . . . and the engineers! Nice one Kim.
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Thanks Colin — are you enjoying sunshine where you are?
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Yes, this dry spell has been a definite morale boost. Cracking on with garden jobs, sowing veg seeds etc. Digging for victory it seems!
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Same here –we have built two new raised beds in our garden, about to sow turnips!
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Baldrick: In that case, I shall prepare my Turnip Surprise.
Edmund: and the surprise is…?
Baldrick: …there’s nothing else in it except the turnip.
Edmund: So, in other words, the Turnip Surprise would be…a turnip ;)
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Yup, that’s my cooking! :)
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Charming and almost idyllic. Goats are quite magical, perhaps more so than even engineering. Delightful poem.
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My Cheese seller picks up cheses from several idyllic places! Alas, not for the foreseeable future….
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So lovely to read about the goats, their tender’s happiness, and your son’s equal delight in his chosen field – and his wish for a goat. We could ALL use goat visits these days to cheer us. Lovely to read about this simple (and profound) happiness in the middle of a pandemic. I wrote about foxes today for the same reason.
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Thank you Sherry — yes, life still goes on and we can still be happy!
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I love goats and goats’ cheese, Kim. Blessed are the cheesemakers indeed! When I lived in Ireland, one of my nearest neighbours kept goats and I used to take my daughter, who was a toddler back then, to visit. Last October, she brought my grandson, who is a toddler, to stay, and we visited Wroxham Barns, where they have goats. He loved them too. Thankyou for reminding me of the scent, the joyful personalities and softness of goats.
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You’re welcome! 😃
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Seems like this goat was a good one to meet. Bringing joy to the day.
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As a fellow engineer, I am pleased to see that rare thing, a shout out to engineers in a poem. Goats too, but they get a bit more attention from the world of poetry…JIM
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There definitely needs to be more engineering poetry. I have always thought of maths as poetry ( I’m an astronomer).
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