THE USELESS LAKE
At the edge of our ranch
lay a large and useless lake
True, it was pretty enough
when the sun struck it just right
And the alkali
didn’t seem to be a problem
for the seeming millions
of cormorants, gulls and pelicans
who embraced it for their home
There were even men
living along the south shore
who may have been happy
mining its salt for money
What I meant was
it was water
that the cows couldn’t drink