Combines

The combines leave the fields stripped and bare,
the straw all baled, the grain threshed into sacks
and sparrows search in vain for insects there.

The frosts will kill. The field-mice prepare,
collecting any trace of wheat or flax
the combines left. The fields, stripped and bare

are hazed with diesel fumes in dusty air
and though they hop and peck in tire tracks,
the sparrows search in vain for insects there.

Persephone in deshabille despairs
of rising. Agricultural attacks
combine to leave the fields stripped and bare

and naked soil damaged past repair,
exposing roots that grope for what they lack
while sparrows search in vain for insects where

the farmers used to hold the Harvest Fair
and gleaners came, and carried bushels back.
But combines leave the fields stripped and bare
and sparrows search in vain for insects there.

Collection available! Knocking from Inside