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The Visitor

Text of Poem

In the heat of the afternoon
I stopped for a drink and while
my sweat dried and hands relaxed
looked at my work. The corn showed
nary a weed, the plants dark green,
the third leaf showing, sun wakened,
a meadowlark bobbed on a fence post
and pumped out a trickle of song,
a morning glory climbed the gate post
I leaned against and barbed wire
ran shining along the field’s edge
to protect my ownership.
A breath of air touched me softly
like a bird’s wing across my face
and suddenly I felt like a stranger
who stayed here only by the sufferance
of growing things and I almost bowed
to the earth as a favored guest might
who was invited to stay out his visit.

First Line
In the heat of the afternoon
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1975
Original Citation
Dry Leaves. Holly Springs, MS: Ragnarok Press. 1975.
Complete Poems
284
Hearst Collections
Word Count
127
Poetic Form
open
Bibliographic Notes

No page numbers in Dry Leaves?

Themes
Twitter Quote
A breath of air touched me softly / like a bird’s wing across my face