Wires

By Philip Larkin (1922 - 1985)

The widest prairies have electric fences, 
For though old cattle know they must not stray 
Young steers are always scenting purer water 
Not here but anywhere. Beyond the wires 

Leads them to blunder up against the wires
Whose muscle-shredding violence gives no quarter.
Young steers become old cattle from that day, 
Electric limits to their widest senses.