Advice to Farmers

You trimmed the wilderness to size
now keep it docile,
a sharp plow and harrow
will do the job for you,
those wild roses, that patch there,
plow them under before
they get the jump on you,
thick, crooked, thorny stems
wasting good black ground
that costs you taxes.
You don’t tip your cap to nature
because she looks nice,
roses will take that whole field
with flat-faced blossoms
if you don’t keep the land
cultivated.
Dig them out, don’t leave one root.