A standin’ man walkin’

Songs are a great inspiration for writing. They are present day poetry. Without them this sort of writing may have already been gone and dead. I was listening to a song the other day and it inspired me to write this short bit about farm life. See, the song I heard was about the farm, and heck that's what my family did, what brought them to the US from Germany. I think it is worth remembering.

Toil in these fields my friend
toil ‘till the light’s near end
sit on rockin’ chair
look out on green pastures
life you know ain’t fair
but now it don’t fester

Wife’s been gone a year now
kids up and ran away to town
they say, “Ain’t no life on the farm.”
I tell ‘em good luck
maybe my life ain’t worth a darn
but I ain’t gonna sell it for a buck

but even I got to make ends meet
had to sell the back half to eat
but I still work the land
even if it doesn’t pay me a dime
there ain’t nowhere to run man
bet I’d lose my mind in a short time

Too bad I’m gettin’ old
day’s are feelin’ mighty cold
don’t think quite as well some days
but I remember how the dirt turns
how the hills groan when the wheat sways
when to park the tractor and watch a sunset burn

Today got a feelin’ I’m a standin’ man walkin’
I ain’t gonna make the fields or be a’talkin’
cause come morn I’m to be a forgotten lot
but don’t matter to me mister, this ain’t my land
not even after all the battles I’d fought
all that matters now is left in god’s hands