Farm Tribute

As the dust clouds rise and fall,
Men and machines join in this timeless rite.
And Generations have answered the call
to sow, to tend, to reap.

As the dust clouds rise and fall,
the sons of sons labor on their common ground.

A Meeting

in A Part
by Wendell Berry

In a dream I meet
my dead friend. He has,
I know, gone long and far,
and yet he is the same
for the dead are changeless.
They grow no older.
It is I who have changed,
grown strange to what I was.
Yet I, the changed one,
ask: "How you been?"
He grins and looks at me.
"I been eating peaches
off some mighty fine trees."


I rediscovered this poem tonight. It just struck me for many reasons, I'll share only a couple: One, it is so true. We remember those who have died as they were in our own personal memories - sometimes they are accurate, sometimes they are not - but this is still how they stay suspended in our memory. Second, the peaches comment at the end reminds me of two students back in the States. We loved the quote by Alice Walker: "Life is so much better than death if only for two reasons, it is less boring, and there are fresh peaches in it!" So, though this poem has a somewhat sad tone, it brings a smile to my face.

The Red Dress

Dorothy Parker

I always saw, I always said
If I were grown and free,
I'd have a gown of reddest red
As fine as you could see,

To wear out walking, sleek and slow,
Upon a Summer day,
And there'd be one to see me so
And flip the world away.

And he would be a gallant one,
With stars behind his eyes,
And hair like metal in the sun,
And lips too warm for lies.

I always saw us, gay and good,
High honored in the town.
Now I am grown to womanhood....
I have the silly gown.


I really like the twist of dark humor at the end of this poem. As a woman who is now a "little older" I like how the narrator as a younger girl thought everything would be perfect if only she had...a red dress (which, of course, is a metaphor for the perfect love). However, when she grew up (and obtained the red dress=love) it wasn't so important to her after all. I don't identify with the "love isn't important now" idea, but I do identify with the growing older and wiser theme.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

e. e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)


First of all, I thought I would add this poem because it doesn't have a dark side or ending to it (like most of the poems I give to you). But I also like it because of its rhythm, the way e. e. cummings adds the thoughts in the parenthesis brings out the feeling of love and longing that rambles through the heart and mind. The phrases in parenthesis also give an explanation to his statements or declarations of love....Just lovely.