The Debtor

These leaden days when the sky is overcast
by a sharp-edged wind that turns the cattle home,
I keep my ledger open till the last
cornfield has been accounted for, I come

with pen behind my ear to check and close
the gates through which I hauled my hay and wheat,
I raised some calves and pigs the tally shows,
and these are pictured on the final sheet.

My estimates were often over-size,
I did not grow all I had hoped to grow
but something less, and now I realize
the difference is what I really owe.

Such debts would make me fat if I could tame
and eat them every day, instead my fare
is how to guard my roof against the claim
of the winter’s landlord lien foreclosing there.