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Recipe for rain

by Anne Howe

The farmer peers from beneath his worn felt hat

And surveys the vast land of which he is 'lord'

...this year's wheat never did see the light of day

It lies not even dormant but dead

With a cracked earth blanket for its discomfort

 

Ghost farm bodies of sheep and cattle

Punctuate the naked landscape.

For them thirst and hunger

Had too long reached out to dry dust and waterless dams

 

With dusk comes relection on a day of loss

With dawn, new hope if not new life

Although his spirit is almost broken

The farmer will never give up

 

He is born to nurture

Being ever the optimist

Thinking on the good years

Though his livelihood be shot to pieces

In this battle with Nature

 

A land without rain is a dry land

A harsh and barren land

A begging

Unforgiving land

 

He watches as his crops and flocks fail

His pocket is less heavy

And there is less with which to feed his family

But the farmer has always known

That Nature gives and Nature takes away

 

He looks forward to a time

When the good seed scattered on the ground

Will be fed an watered by the same force of Nature

And his land will once again become a land of plenty

 

For now, with sleeves rolled up and ready to labour

He gazes longingly at the clear blue sky

And out across the arid landscape

......if only there was a recipe for rain!!

12/17/2002

Posted on 12/17/2002
Copyright © 2024 Anne Howe

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by David R Spellman on 12/17/02 at 08:54 PM

Your descriptions here really make me appreciate more the hardships of farming the land, especially when so much is at the whim of nature. Very well said Anne.

Posted by Ken Harnisch on 01/06/03 at 03:06 PM

I had heard and seen and read of the great drought sweeping Austrailia...but poems, from the eyes of those who are there, bring the great dry searing thing home!

Posted by Charles E Minshall on 08/02/05 at 03:22 PM

Well done Anne. The farmers lot is a tough one....Charlie

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