ALFALFA

The wild alfalfa is chest high along the river

and the cows who summered here

with their calves last year have gone.

In the heat, she licked her young’s hide

clean as it nudged and nuzzled against her.

We watched them from the edge of the river

as they loved each other and nipped

the alfalfa short, then we walked through sage

holding hands in the afternoon.

And now you wonder where they’ve gone,

if they’re still together, worried because

of this space in our lives.

When you asked if we’d always be together,

of course I said no, quietly hoping against time.

In our absence, the alfalfa and everything else

will grow taller, greener, readying itself

for the new love that’s coming,

what we don’t know yet.

Like the herd over the rim of the canyon

hoofing their way closer each moment.

Jeff Knorr is the author of three books of poetry, The Third Body (Cherry Grove Collections), Keeper (Mammoth Books), and Standing Up to the Day (Pecan Grove Press).  His other works include Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Poetry and Fiction (Prentice Hall); the anthology, A Writer's Country (Prentice Hall); and The River Sings: An Introduction to Poetry (Prentice Hall). Knorr lives in Sacramento, California and is Professor of literature and creative writing at Sacramento City College and is the Poet Laureate of Sacramento.