She drank crystal water,
steeped in herbacious bankside grasses,
and sea salt made it bearable
The brackishm stream nourished her,
and she wanted to share the taste of those colors,
colliding in a brilliant shimmer
She learned to mix them well for her fellows,
and they loved it just the same as she did
One day a farmer came by with tools in tow,
he said, "I can help you share these waters with even more!"
Without hesitation she took his tools and and with his chains burdened his cart,
filled it with waters and grasses and She would tow and tow from town to town,
and more could love these bittersweet crystal waters,
and the farmer would take his coin
Lusting for more the farmer planted more of these grasses with fertilizer and insecticide, and fungicide
the grasses would fester and the waters would sludge,
She protested to the farmer"You've missed the point! You'll ruin it all!"
He waves her off, "What's it matter to you? You're just a bull. Pull that cart and I'll take my coin."
She rises to leave but chained she can not leave the cart
Stuck, she pulled his cart and sold more sludge and rot til people would no longer buy his waters and grasses
The colors in the taste were gone
No more grassy sweet greens
No more dry bitter yellows
No more salt to push it past the her rotting gums
But the farmer still needed something to sell,
and so to fill his purse he would walk that bull from town to town feeding it the rot and sludge and butchering it in increments,
the people are eating the bull,
she's pulling her food,
he's cutting her up,
selling her,
she falls,
and she rots with the waters and grasses,
becoming one with what grew her,
and even still the farmer sells her bones