Horn of Plenty
Nature’s abundance
Is only abundant
Because of our breeding and care.
We keep safe with fences
From predators hellbent
On forcing our people to share.
We took weedy grasses
And made them triumphant
By winnowing pearls from the tat.
Through thousands of passes
We bred out redundants,
And kept only those who grew fat.
We took crabby apples
And looked for those farthest
From regular bitter and small.
So don’t pray at chapels
For bountiful harvests –
It’s farmers who let us grow tall !
We beefed-up our cattle,
And fluffed-up our sheep,
And we hen-pecked our hens to lay more.
We’ve long waged the battle
’Gainst ringworm and creep,
And upping our yields by the score.
And yes, it’s true sometimes
We’ve made matters worse
In our efforts to keep us all fed.
But we’ll undo such crimes
As we learn from the curse,
In our bid to be better well-bred.
But to reap all we sow
Could yet come to a stop
If we don’t keep our labours up still.
The hard row to hoe
For the cream of the crop
Could succumb to the dew of the mill.
Nature’s abundance
Is only abundant
Because of our breeding and care.
It takes great expense,
But it’s very well spent,
Till the earth is encouraged to share.
Rhyming Couplets 