new ears of corn

a trochee  
 
[No. 10 from The Children’s Collection]  
 
“Nature gives man corn but he must grind it; God gives man a will but  
he must make the right choices.”―Fulton J. Sheen  
 
when the ears of corn are ripening and their silk-thread teeth come smiling,  
let me frolic through the cornfield―in the cornfield let me play.  
i shall tip-toe past the scarecrow while the birds he is beguiling,  
lest i scare the birds―lest i should too soon scare the birds away.  
 
one for maggot, one for john crow, one for cutworm, one to watch grow:  
every ear that grows kills three more―only one good ear in four!  
that is how the cookie crumbles, not one finger of the scarecrow  
lifted up to save the harvest―lifted up to save the hour.  
 
when the reapers fill the corn bags labelled with their type-of-corn tags,  
let the yellow corn keep silence―let the yellow corn be still,  
while the white and polka-dot corns sing a chorus in their corn bags;  
for the yellow corn must sail―grits corn must travel to brazil.  
 
when the grains flame on the fire to satisfy popcorn desire,  
let me nibble every morsel―every morsel let me eat;  
for my hunger shall no longer for sweet harvest corn conspire,  
till new ears of corn come―till new harvests make the fields replete.  
 
© Copyright 2024 January 04  
by Clyve A. Bowen♫