Zen and theTractor

It is not that you drive the tractor.
It is that you fully experience each moment of driving the tractor.
The tension in your thigh as you push down and double clutch.
The force of the key against your fingers held before ignition,
Mentally count to twenty to warm the glow plug.
A cough and you release your hand,
Ignition realised.
The unity of acceleration and release.
The posture that allows you to sit fully in the seat and maintain concentration.
Listen to the engines song as it labours up each hill.
Enter the exact moment when you decelerate and gently apply the brakes.
Notice the lay of the land.
Look for every obstacle, hole, tree-stump.
And memorise the exact point where that baby hare scrabbled slowly away through the grass.
Drink when you are thirsty.
Gauge when you think that more fuel might be needed.
Navigate the land so that needless traversing is minimised.
Feel the wind in your hair and the warmth of the sun.
Smell the fresh cut grass.
And Peppermint Eucalyptus as you slash a misplaced shrub.
realise that there is no where else in this moment you should be,
But on this little red Fergie tractor, slashing.