Reclaimed

(Photo Credit: Creative Commons, https://www.pinterest.com/elianefidalgo/flower-fields/)

Written on 1/12/2010

The deep crevices and cracks of the earth
Dry and emaciated the fields they were barren
The heat of the day scorched the parched soil
As it begged for some release
An escape from the harsh plowing of the farmer’s trowel
The constant and relentless stamping and stomping
No rest for the weary as the earth is surely
And from below its pain does not quell
No streams beneath the dirt that could rise above
And no rain felled from the heavens
Like mighty titans or ancient angels turned devils
No respite save the vanished past
Or recourse save some patience
Memories of before the man
He came and placed the soles of his shoes
Deep as the foundations of his home
He labored on the hillside tearing down the foliage
Grown from saplings and raised by the earth herself
Her sweet children who dug their way deep into her heart
So easily were they slain
Simple strokes of sweat and steel
Their timber was the first of what he stole
Soon he forged down and deeper
Destroying all of her bountiful home
He tore up the ground and sown new seeds
But these too he stole
He left nothing to feed the ground
And the earth she began to starve
Still he labored and plowed the fields
And tore on through the years
But through each passing hour of every turned down day
Slowly she began to fade
What came from the earth was not returned
All things must eventually expire
What she could give began the coming of its last days
She was too barren to produce any fruit
There was no more that she could give
But the old farmer he had died a long the way
And his children and theirs too soon began to wane
Eventually they were gone
With their filth their torment and their stench
Slowly she could feed her children again
She too was fed
For no rain could come for the starving earth
No downpour in which she could escape
But now as the land rediscovered its origin
The water too was reclaimed
The deep crevices were filled with that drink they so craved
As men left her fields
Life returned again