Poetry on Wednesday

This poem was in my uncle's prayer card. He had been a farmer. He and my dad were raised on a farm as was my father-in-law. This is for them...

Just a Farmer

"Just a Farmer", you said
And I laughed 'cause I knew
All the things that farmers
Must be able to do.

They must study the land,
Then watch the sky
And figure just when
Is the right time and why -

To sow and to plant
To buy and to sell
To go to the market
With cattle and well -

You know the books
That farmers must keep
To pay all those taxes
And be able to sleep.

And you know the fixin'
That farmers must do
When machines like mad monsters
Blow a gasket or two.

I guess when God needed
Folks to care for His earth
He chose "just farmers"
'Cause He knew their true worth.
            ~Helen Coon