The Farmer Takes a Wife |
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V. the farmer takes a wife |
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The first rule of husbandry is abstinence. |
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She learned as she put down roots |
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to refrain from luxury, from waste |
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to let alone her urges toward abandon. |
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Use it all, her mother said, and invited |
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the scavengers to glean the virgin fields. |
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Her wedding feast runs late. At the end |
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there is more food than when it was begun. |
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She weeps tears of blood but does not eat |
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though her husband tells her it will rot. |
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Mulch, she says. The earth will eat from it. |
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his seed is red in his realm's dark light |
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she has learned not to waste |
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so she swallows it down. |
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Content © copyright 2002 by Catherine Osborne. All rights reserved.