Maggie Butt
Marigolds
i.m. Len Sharman
Suffolk Farmworker
So bent by work, he tips his head
like a bird to peep up at me.
His cottage Quaker-plain utility
two mugs, two plates, two chairs.
A life spent chipping beets from frozen ground
grateful for the farmer’s Christmas rabbit,
half starved, curved by hollowing poverty
yet, at his centre, golden calm
thick as the marigolds along his garden path,
“I could work in a field all day
and never feel alone; the fresh air,
the birds singing, it’s like being in heaven.”
I look round my junk-cluttered life
unquenchable desires
and hold my chilly hands out to
the flame of his contentment.
Suffolk Farmworker
So bent by work, he tips his head
like a bird to peep up at me.
His cottage Quaker-plain utility
two mugs, two plates, two chairs.
A life spent chipping beets from frozen ground
grateful for the farmer’s Christmas rabbit,
half starved, curved by hollowing poverty
yet, at his centre, golden calm
thick as the marigolds along his garden path,
“I could work in a field all day
and never feel alone; the fresh air,
the birds singing, it’s like being in heaven.”
I look round my junk-cluttered life
unquenchable desires
and hold my chilly hands out to
the flame of his contentment.
Page(s) 37
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