Is the poppy living in vain?

"Poppy! delicate and fine,
Is it really true that you
Are no better than a cheat
Set among the golden wheat?
 
That for all your lovely [pink]
You will never make us bread,
That though with an elfin guile
You have caught the sun’s warm smile
Captive for a little while
There is no real use in you --
Tell me, tell me, is it true,
Poppy, delicate and fine?"
 
...
 
When the summer days are spent,
When the reaper’s hook is bent,
When is garnered all the grain,
Shall men say you lived in vain?
 
No, for, like a lovely thought
In a blossom’s semblance caught,
Your own meaning you have taught.
 
And I know, by Hope’s eyes brightened
By the weight of sorrow lightened,
By a faith deepened and heightened,
I know, I know it is not true
That there is no use in you,
Poppy, delicate and fine."
 
 
I came across the first pink poppy on the farm just there, next to the fence line of the flock on top of the first hill. In the afternoon of a hard day's work, chasing chickens, dogs, eggs, fixing fences in the scorch and dust and sweat, to lift up my eyes and see this pink poppy.
 
Yes, there is definitely use in you, our first Pink Poppy, with "sorrow lightened" and "eyes brightened".
 
 
 
#poppy #pinkpoppy #spring #useful #flower #pastured #eggs #freerange #lighten #sorrow #poetry #farmlife
 
-- from the poem "A Poppy" by the Australian poet Agnes L. Storrie, with modification by Hilltops Free Range