Poetic Interlude XXXI

 The earth came to commune with the wife of the Plowman,

Saying, I will give of myself to nourish your children

And in return, what will I receive?

The Plowman's Wife sat herself down and felt the dirt.

She thought a long time, and looked at the sky and said:

I will give you of myself, and of my daughters

The fruit of our hearts, stillborn and elderly will come

To lie down under your covers and sleep their long sleep.

I will give you more plowmen to seed your soil,

To keep you warm and full and fertile, as mine keeps me.

All that I eat shall you taste too, and more

And I will listen to your songs and learn your lay lines.

The earth was satisfied, and stilled herself.

She rested beneath the Plowman's wife, answering:

We both of us are wombed, and we two of us are sisters.