Grass Waving Under Wind, A Collection

LONELY LAND

Six outbuildings   
one, a small barn,   
no house   
and just one tree;   
obviously, once   
there was a house   
and, likely, more trees -  
and flowers.
It was a family farm   
but the family is gone   
and the farming too,   
just grassland now.   
The soil was too poor,   
or insufficient rain,   
to sustain a farming life,   
or improvident decisions,   
or banker’s greed,   
ended hopes.

STRANGE YEAR

A strange year   
of prolonged autumn,   
midway to the equinox  
it snowed   
somewhat over an inch  
enough   
to cover the ground   
and grass.
By the end of next day  
it had melted   
except   
for north facing pockets.
Spring proceeded early,   
as did summer.
It would be named,   
“Year of one-day winter”   
if we still named years,   
and more believed the warming.

OLD FARMER

For ninety-seven years   
the man   
had spent all,   
or most,   
of every day outside   
working the land   
or, in later years,   
walking his farm   
just to see that it was there.
Then, suddenly,   
without knowledge or consent,   
he was imprisoned   
in a box of other boxes   
for his “safety,”   
he was told after falling.
What safety is a prison   
where he could not see
the sun   
or feel the wind?
“The healthiest man   
I’ve ever checked in,”   
the doctor said.
“And the oldest,”   
he added in amazement.
But health was not a factor   
six months later   
when he died.