Hail

I’ve watched the eyes

That watched the skies

Through August summer days

Grain ripens in its own sweet time

Harvest’s still a few more days

I’ve seen the clouds rise in the west

The rolling, roiling kind

Prophets of destruction they arrest

The busy day, sow fear into the minds

Of those who till the soil

I’ve felt that first cold wind

And heard that distant roar

That seals the fate of those who wait

Nature’s thresher’s at the door

I’ve watched the chickens start their run

Like rifle shots the ice begins to fall

Rising to an avalanche of sound and pain

Crushing hopes and dreams and all

That one year’s labour can obtain

I’ve seen a glance that froze my heart

Between eyes that watched that storm

That spoke of pain and hurt and wrong

As in each the other sought and found

The will to somehow carry on

I was young and didn’t know

The cost when hailstones fell

To parents who worked so hard

But now I sometimes sit and dwell

And ask myself, could I have done as well