it was sam who spotted the speck in the distance,

a colorful orb all aglow in the sunlight,

as he set down his stool and his bucket,

coming back from the barn after a morning of milking,

shoving fists in his eyes to be sure they were working,

lest the late night of tending to his ailing old horse

had left him too deep in his early morning slumber

to realize that he had still not arisen

but gone about his chores in a slurry of sleeping,

thinking that he had gotten up when he hadn’t

but he knew it'd been so many years since he's slackened

his grip on the workload and rarely if ever

did he dare to neglect his daily duties

for he was all too aware of the dire consequences

of letting even half a days work go unfinished

and foolish forgetting or selfish long sleeping

were just not an option and were always avoided,

so it had to be true, this strange apparition,

this green orange and blue thing, this rainbow contraption

drifting out of the mists of the morning,

so slowly it turned, so gently it twisted,

and a brief flash of light every so often,

just as the sun would catch on a fragment

of copper or gold, it was hard to determine,

not knowing if he should be fretful or fearful,

he just couldn’t help but soak up an eyeful

for whatever this was, it was so mesmerizing,

utterly absolutely surprising,

but soon he was able to gain his composure,

took his stool and his bucket and headed back to the homestead

where he knew his old wife would groan and guffaw,

but she would just have to come out and see what he saw!