Rhythm in their Dancing
After arriving in Holly Michigan we saw an advertisement for the Oakland County Fair. The kid in me hates to pass up a visit to a county fair. What is more iconic than a Ferris wheel, even a double Ferris wheel? Our first stop upon entering the fairground was the pig races. Actually the pigs bribed to run with cookies, were less interesting than the two 30 something males who emceed the event. You had to be there.
The majority of us have long since left the farm, myself included. I always feel close to my grandparents whenever I am around farm animals. This fair had a “birthing barn”. The barn was dedicated to the care of animals born the week of the fair.
I was captivated by a newborn Scottish Highland calf born that morning about 5 hours prior to our arrival. The animal was skipping and running around it’s mother. The mother was a red, shaggy haired beast with magisterial horns. I patiently waited to get a good angle with my camera. The man next to me called out, “Hey Matilda.” The cow turned and looked straight at is. He was the farmer. We talked for about 10 minutes and he related several stories of raising the animals. They prefer to be out of doors in the winter, and they gain the same weight on one third less grass than the Angus breed. It was obvious that he loved that cow.
I’ll say no more but share these inspiring lines from T S Eliot.
In that open field
If you do not come too close, if you do not come too close,
On a summer midnight, you can hear the music
Of the weak pipe and the little drum
And see them dancing around the bonfire
the association of man and woman
In daunsinge, signifying matrimonie˜
A dignified and commodious sacrament.
Two and two, necessarye coniunction,
Holding eche other by the hand or the arm
Whiche betokeneth concorde. Round and round the fire
Leaping through the flames, or joined in circles,
Rustically solemn or in rustic laughter
Lifting heavy feet in clumsy shoes,
Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth
Mirth of those long since under earth
Nourishing the corn. Keeping time,
Keeping the rhythm in their dancing
As in their living in the living seasons
The time of the seasons and the constellations
The time of milking and the time of harvest
The time of the coupling of man and woman
And that of beasts. Feet rising and falling.
Eating and drinking. Dung and death.East Coker by T. S. Eliot
