Stretched tight along varied poles, some old and wooden, some new and steel. Barbed intertwined wires gleaming, rising and falling with the land. Short dried grasses below covering the faintest hint of green. Cool crisp breeze flowing through only slightly warmed by the sun. Clear blue sky above with a few wisps of white adding to its perfection. A bird, chirping happily, from its wire perch.

Hot sun shining off of the barbs points, bleaching the wooden posts to gray, slowly dulling the steel posts paint. The bellowing cattle move in testing the boundaries. Push, shove, scratch, looking for weakness and escape. Wires strain against staples and clips. Poles sway imperceptibly, each test loosening them from the earth they were pounded into. Lush green grass almost hiding the bottom wire. Strong winds hit and heavy rains fall, further weakening defenses. Days stretch out like the wires, long and intertwined.

Nights are turning cooler, the suns power weakening. The few strands of long grass left are now dried and brown, like the new rust on the wires. Gates are opened for the last time allowing fat, content cattle to move on. Their hooves crunching the parched grasses and billows of dust rising with each step. All that’s left to do is mark the boundary.

Cold sharp wind, hard biting snow whistle around and through. Ground holding fast to poles and at the same time pushing them out with each freeze and thaw. Barren white ground and gray sky all there is to see.

As the suns rays melt the snow and warm the earth, wires sag and posts lean. Wires are stretched and cut and tied off. Clips and staples are added to secure the wire. Old rotten posts snapped off and replaced, others tamped further into the ground. Each passing year the fence slowly changes. Metal rusts, wood rots and is continually replaced with new. The cycle consistent as the seasons.