Half-Harvested Field Of Blond Fiber

Half-harvested field of blond fiber
      Bleached yellow by the sun
Or just pale mustard by science
      Awaits an organizing farm vehicle
To come by and rake up the cuttings
      Batch the yield into bales
     
The cut product leaves a stubble
      Like when a kid gets a buzz cut for summer
            Nearly all the way down to scalp
And you can see how white the skin
      Has become over the winter
            Soon to be colored
By endless hours playing all day long in the sun
      During the months when the classroom
            Is the farm
Where Dad is king, Mom is queen
                  Family is everything
That and getting seed in the ground
      Feeding cattle
            Praying for good weather,
                  Rich yields,
                        A better life
And then at the right time bringing the hay to market

Half-harvested field of blond fiber
      Bleached yellow by the sun
Or just pale mustard by science
            Awaits an organizing farm vehicle
      To come by and rake up the cuttings


For Conversations With Walt
Denis J. Kelly
Jan. 4, 2012