Herding Geese opus 131
| 8 July 2023 0915 Hours | | Farming, Ornithology, Zoology |
Herding geese is definitely not like herding cats.
I should know because my little farm produced 600 geese annually.
(And I also had unherdable cats on the farm, thanks to Nora, my now late wife.)
These were not 'water birds' as one might suspect,
Rather they were pasture-raised Embden Geese, A large, handsome, agile-on-land, white bird.
To work with geese, one manipulates them to move anywhere,
Simply by walking near them, raising one's arms--left or right or both,
And the mass of white, cloud-like life bunches,
Then turns to the left with a right arm signal,
Obviously, turning correspondingly with a left arm raised,
And straight ahead with both arms raised above one's shoulders.
To split a smaller group off from the larger body,
One merely holds both arms raised and walks quickly forward.
Such a wonderful feeling, being able to gently control
Such a large group of fellow farm creatures,
Almost the same as conducting a Brahms symphony,
Leading an orchestra of one hundred!