Aurochs to Zorra

Mangold

Mangold


One could say they were smiling,
if cattle could smile!

Joy came from roots
the size of footballs.
Its yellow sweetness, juicy,
a welcomed change from hay and corn.

Their very meat
absorbed the sugars,
gave them fuel enough to guard
against the winter’s blast.

At last, in Spring, the farmer plants
once more the seed to sprout,
to wrest from earth in early autumn,
honeyed harvest of the mangold root.


© Kåre Enga

mangold: beet with a large yellowish root; grown
chiefly as cattle feed