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Open Poetry #28
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About Farmers
| Open Poetry #28 |
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About Farmers |
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Abe Senior Member
since 2003-05-28
Posts 694Looks like Vero Beach, FL until the end! 
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OF THE EARTH Up at the crack of dawn With the crowing of the cock Go to gather the eggs As the old hens scold and squawk. Feed the horses, milk the cows, By the rising morning sun It seems you've worked half a day -- But it's only just begun. Time for breakfast -- not store-bought Bacon, eggs, and homemade biscuits Cherry jam, put up last Fall And some plums canned with the pits. You fix the leak in the barn Mend the hole that's in the fence You clear the weeds from the ditch That have grown so thick and dense. Drive twenty miles into town Just to get needed supplies Hurry back to mow the fields Just as soon as the dew dries. Then it's time for dinner -- The main meal of the day She's one helluva cook -- Is all that you can say. You start baling up the hay Now that it's all cut down Get a drink of sweet water From the well below the ground. Still a few more chores to do Before the evening sunset. You have pride in knowing that You work hard for all you get. Time for supper -- something light -- The time to relax and talk To have a cup of coffee -- Maybe take a moon-lit walk. You hear the frogs in the pond And the crickets in the grass Look up at the scattered clouds Wonder what weather's forecast. A man of earth -- it's tough -- Few days off and little pay It's in your blood, and you know That there is no better way. THE FARMER'S WIFE You've heard of "The Three Blind Mice" And "The Farmer in the Dell"? As far as fairy tales go I guess that they are swell. But in the real world today So much that we don't know Just go ask a farmer's wife And she'll tell you so. She'll tell you of the long days In every farmer's life And what it is really like To be a farmer's wife. About getting up at dawn Each day of the year Whether the day is stormy Or beautiful and clear. And speaking of the weather It can wipe you out -- It can take your best year And turn it inside out. The pests can eat the crops Acid rain ruins the soil And there's not too much pay For all the time you toil. Kind of a thankless job People think you're getting rich Not knowing what it costs To put water in the ditch. It's not like the old days There's so much more to know To put a seed in the ground And to make it grow. Without the farmer and his wife Wonder where we'd be -- They've done a lot to make us great. And the land of the free. So give thanks to them The next time you sit down To partake of a meal They've raised from the ground. Del "Abe" Jones |
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| © Copyright 2003 Del - All Rights Reserved | |||
KristieSue
since 2003-01-31
Posts 1460PA, US |
Thank you Nice to be reminded sometimes. We take so many things for granted...btw, breakfast sure does sound good! :-) "Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." -Japanese Proverb |
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EvocativeVerse2 Senior Member
since 2003-09-10
Posts 1279 |
Great one Abe. Very well penned as usual. Keep it up! |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
...and "they" keep asphalting the ground... Speak for the common man, Abe... he IS the one that feeds us. |
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