During my recent trip to my mother's farm in Texas, her neighbor, Mr. Hughes was cutting the hay as we were returning from Austin and San Antonio. This week's Magpie Prompt of the painting "Chilmark Hay" 1951 by Thomas Hart, shared by Tess Kincaid, has prompted me to include some photos of that day in Texas (and a short poem), so timely and appropriate!
beast and machine
it seemed harder then.
horsepower was less.
a pitchfork baled with
armpower and sweat.
dirt encrusted hands
and dust powdered
crows feet capture
every essence of
toil and effort.
it seemed so.
but labor doesn't
discriminate between
beast and machine:
every harvest is ageless
for all sons of the soil.
Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
Photos © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
Painting image "Chilmark Hay" by Thomas Hart, 1951
while modern conveniences have improved it i would still wager farming is one of the tougher jobs out there surely...
ReplyDeleteEvocative, moving take on the prompt; very well done.
ReplyDeleteAwesome pics!... And u bet horsepower is incomparable.... We dont even have horses (bwahahaha!...) kidding aside, my stepfather eho maintains our farms back home still uses "carabaos" to cultivate them. Fun to see... Looking forward to experience it again when i go home this year.
ReplyDeleteJJRod'z
very nice....
ReplyDeleteEvery harvest truly is ageless...beautiful...
ReplyDeleteYour poem took my breath away ... loved the photos too, very reminiscent of all my summers on the farm.
ReplyDeleteThe last two lines are specially meaningful ~ Love it ~
ReplyDeleteWonderful words.
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]