"Buffalo" [by Tom Disch]

Buffalo

He knew how he would die. We all know that.
Some day the same as any other he'd be chewing his cud
And ruminating about the larger weather patterns
The clouds spoke of when Whump! like the trump of Doom
He would be stampeding to his death
With the whole country around him, their pounding
Hooves sounding like the drums you sometimes
Heard when the herds of horsemen camped
In some canyon close by, the very canyon it might be
In which he was destined to die.
Aiee! they would cry, or words to that effect,
As they sat by their fires beating on the stretched skin
Of one's relatives, which was their way
Of saying We won! We won! They were
An intolerable presence and he prayed
That someday someone would come, someone
Even nastier, someone even worse than the wolves,
And kill them, level their smelly villages
And cover them with rocks, like the rocks
He would lie on and rot when it came
His time to join the great stampede and die.

– Tom Disch (1940-2008)

May 1, 2008, 4:13 am

Comments

[Maria]

Good case not to ruminate. Lol.

[april havoc]

Nobody else.

[EN]

Buffalo’s prayer was answered. But that was definitely a two edged cavalry sword. Fantastic poem.

[David Schloss]

Tragic and prescient (trump of Doom!) and, of course, of his own nearing end. Pitiless clarity, as usual, from an underappreciated poet.