The Ancient Modern
Who Furrows? Who Follows? / Joshua Alan Sturgill
Who furrows? Who follows?
The owl in the hollow
The hawk in the meadow
The jay in the hedgeapple tree
Who follows the farmer who furrows his fields?
Who furrows? Who follows?
We three.
The sow in the pigsty is tending her piglets
The cow in the garden is stealing the cabbage
The rabbits are nibbling the weeds
The river is searching
The chestnuts are catching
the flyaway wind in their leaves
The pigeons are cooing
The rooster is crowing
The chicks and the chickadees scratching for seeds
The little brown mouse in the walls of the house
shelters her babies with paper and straw
Sparrows are chirruping
Squirrels are scuttling
Ravens cry out with a croak and a caw
The earthworms are tunneling
butterflies nectaring
Ants are as busy as beetles and bees
While under the sun
in the warmth of the Autumn:
the farmer is working where earth and sky meet
Who furrows? Who follows?
The owl in the hollow
The hawk in the meadow
The jay in the hedgeapple
Morning and evening from up in the sky
or down from our nests in the trees,
who follows the farmer who furrows his fields?
Who furrows? Who follows?
We three
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