Commentary and Philosophy Poetry posted June 23, 2008

Chapters:

...16 17 -18- 19...

Exceptional

Drought kills

A chapter in the book Precious Gems: An Anthology

The Hardened Land

by Gypsymooncat

A rustic tear has sought relief  As symbol of a hidden grief  It thinly slides down weathered skin  Heralding raging war within  This solid man of stolid past  With strength of steel, endurance, vast  The wall around his swelling heart Breached and weakened, comes apart He lets the subtle shift begin  To cast his fortress to the wind  He’s kneeling on his hardened ground  These racking sobs, a sound new-found He holds two hands towards the sky Pleading "Lord, please tell me why?  I've worked this land for forty years  By sweat and blood, through doubts and fears The hand you’ve dealt me is unfair  I’ve empty sheds, the land is bare  My herd are dead or sold for meat  And we are left with naught to eat!"  He looks upon his landscape now With sorrow etched across his brow  Remains of his one thousand head  Lay starved or shot, in pools of red  The rifle glints beside him, teasing  Yet no bullets left to ease him  Tears still coursing like a flood  Mingle salt with fear and blood  ooo Homeward bound, he walks upright The mission done and grief sealed tight No evidence of how he cried  Belying pain alive inside  His fam’ly needs to feel hope still  In rising dawn, new sun on hills They may not fully understand A man so marred By hardened land

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