Pursuing Pleiades

by Jude Roy

From my seat on the gallery
I watch my daddy
Follow the plow,
Follow the mules.
Like the celestial farmer,
He bobs against the dusky evening horizon,
Pursued by Stygian darkness.
Seven symmetrical rows to plow under
Before the stars light up the night sky.
From my seat on the gallery
I watch my daddy's shadow
Hunch its shoulders
Over the plow,
Bowing under the weight of dark worlds
And the hopes of a son
Too young
To understand the distance from star to star;
From alley to alley.

First published in Zuzu's Petal Quarterly #16
Copyright © 2004, Jude Roy

Copyright © Herm Perez

Jude Roy is an out of place Cajun living and teaching in Madisonville, KY. His work has appeared in many online and print resources such as The Southern Review, Prism International, Zuzu's Petal Quarterly, Wilmington Blues, American Short Fiction, The Fiction Writer, The Dead Mule, and many others.