Gratitude by Toril Fisher
Inspired by real-Life Farmers of Second Cloud on Left Farm
Inspired by real-Life Farmers of Second Cloud on Left Farm
we buy this land for food & hearth
our calloused hands till the soil for
beets, beans, corn, tomatoes & peas-
our faces flecked with dirt & rain
we dig & stoop from our waist
this land provides for food & hearth:
summer squashes & cabbages,
all fresh & healthy as clear pond-
growing food, our cheeks turn pink
our skin browns with sunshine & air
this land gives more than food & hearth
connecting with nature, we are free
to grow wantonly as daisies
to sprout luxuriously as grass
with gratitude we praise & praise
for this land, our food & hearth
Posted for Imaginary Garden for Real Toads - Artistic Interpretation by Margaret
& Sunday Challenge - Quatern poetry form (8 syllables per line) ~ Thanks for the visit ~
This is a wonderful tribute to those who continue to farm the land under trying circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kerry ~
DeleteJust a note that the Quatern requires that line 1 be repeated over four stanzas (2nd stanza - line 2, 3rd stanza - line 3 and 4th stanza - line 4).
Delete:)
I subtly changed the repeating first line, hope this is fine ~
DeleteRight! I see it now. Actually I prefer your subtle differences because it really did not smack me in the eye when I first read it. Far better when form follows poetic intention and not the other way around.
DeleteSigh. Inhale the beauty and the earth work. Sigh. Inhale nurture and freedom. Sigh again with gratitude and rest.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan ~
Deletethis land def gives more than just the physical
ReplyDeleteit works on our bodies and hearts
to work in conjuction with the land.
A lot of hard work ~ I so admire people who depend on the land & nature for their food & nourishment ~
Deletethats´s true and lovely!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gloria ~
Deleteyes, we should always be thankful to lord for his so many gifts
ReplyDeleteThanks Vandana ~
DeleteVery nice, Grace. That is the way it is farming. I grew up on a Nebraska farm north of Omaha a bit. Toril has to raise a labor intensive crop like vegetables because she only farms 27 acres. The year I was born we were very poor. Mom and Dad had planted an extra large potato garden and there were enough potatoes to pay the doctor bill for having me. That was a drought year and most potato crops failed.
ReplyDelete..
I too remember my grandparents depending on farm & fishponds ~ Some years are not so good, some years are bountiful ~ But it was enough to raise a large family ~
DeleteThanks for sharing with me your journey Jim ~ What a sacrifice that must have been ~
Thank you, Grace ~~ I read still another time and realized that the crops weren't the only thing that grew. So did the farmer people.
Delete..
You speak to my depths when you elaborate regarding the details of living with, on, from the land. LOVE!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kim ~
DeleteLove how this speaks of such a love of the land . . . and has a sense of reaping what we sow.
ReplyDeleteThe love of the land is great... really love the calloused part of it.. the efforts coupled to the rewards... great.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful celebration of life and that which sustains us. Nice job on pulling the two prompts together.
ReplyDeletei like this one. It sounds like a lovely place to be
ReplyDeleteA lot of work it takes to do so, and props to those who avoid the gmo
ReplyDeleteMy respect to those people, working at the land ~ Poem- gymn ~ Great!
ReplyDeleteTruth in your words...beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat's the kind of life I had at the farm 'til I got bound to city life. Life is shorter here than when I'm back in province waking up hearing cock-a-doodle-doos & squeaking pigs at the pigsty. Fine, fine write Grace. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I think we all need to make our life more organic, more harmonious, and more connected to our mother earth, in tune with the greatness that is nature. I loved your poem!
ReplyDeleteIt is not easy to work the land. Risks and problems can be from any direction. The weather, labor, plant disease. It is just amazing some have the resolve and the talents. Wonderful write Grace!
ReplyDeleteHank
A very skillful combination of themes, Grace--I love your work with the form, and also almost missed the refrain, which means you have made the poem stand on its own feet, with form as its graceful shadow. Enjoyed it much.
ReplyDeletereads like an incantation to me, Grace - a reminder to us all ~
ReplyDeletelove this, Grace. daisies DO grow wantonly. would that we did!
ReplyDelete"we are free
ReplyDeleteto grow wantonly as daisies"
also dandelions :) Yes, this is how it should be - but i wonder with all the big commercial farms, how many will experience the beauty you write about? Thank you for this beautiful poem.
Nicely done.
ReplyDelete