All day I hear the machine marching
Its tramping approach
Its tramping retreat
The slow about-turn before the hawthorn hedge
Tempo unwavering
Relentless chomp, chomp, champ
Regulation clunk, clang, rattle
Persistant whirl and blow
The repeated beating down of ripe wheat
Blades tearing through the stalks
The cutting and threshing of the combine harvester
Wheezing through the wheat
The gently swirling sea of whiskered grain shaved
Strip by strip
Leaving stripe after stripe
Of deflated straw pillows
On the stubbled face of the field
.
CLP 25/08/2019
