For all the brave cornstalks trying to make it in the big city...
Laughing Corn There was a high majestic fooling Day before yesterday in the yellow corn. And day after to-morrow in the yellow corn There will be high majestic fooling. The ears ripen in late summer And come on with a conquering laughter, Come on with a high and conquering laughter. The long-tailed blackbirds are hoarse. One of the smaller blackbirds chitters on a stalk And a spot of red is on its shoulder And I never heard its name in my life. Some of the ears are bursting. A white juice works inside. Cornsilk creeps in the end and dangles in the wind. Always--I never knew it any other way-- The wind and the corn talk things over together. And the rain and the corn and the sun and the corn Talk things over together. Over the road is the farmhouse. The siding is white and a green blind is slung loose. It will not be fixed till the corn is husked. The farmer and his wife talk things over together.
--Carl Sandburg, 1918
Image credit: Mr. Physics via flickr
(SGH)
Comments (3)
A wonderful selection, and gorgeous photo.
I hear the oriole's always-grieving voice
I hear the oriole's always-grieving voice,
And the rich summer's welcome loss I hear
In the sickle's serpentine hiss
Cutting the corn's ear tightly pressed to ear.
And the short skirts of the slim reapers
Fly in the wind like holiday pennants,
The clash of joyful cymbals, and creeping
From under dusty lashes, the long glance.
I don't expect love's tender flatteries,
In premonition of some dark event,
But come, come and see this paradise
Where together we were blessed and innocent.
Anna Akhmatova
Wow.