VERMONT POETRY: Shoulder to the Plow

If you lead a good life, eat all your vegetables and say all your prayers, when you die you'll go to Vermont.

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CELEBRATE THE SEASON:
Lady in Waiting
by Wayne Kelley

Thoughts of Mom
by Mike Williams

The Common Stinging Nettle
by Euell Gibbons

Looking for that Hot
New Grill
by Daryle Thomas

DO IT YOURSELF HOME IMPROVEMENTS:
Flower Boxes
to Brighten the Homestead

VERMONT VERSES
Shoulder to the Plow
by Wayne Kelley

Fishing & the Moral Law in Vermont
by Daniel Cady

GARDENING:
Aquatic Landscaping
by Leonard Perry

Lady Tulip
by Anna Bostford Comstock

May Gardening Tips
by Leonard Perry

INTO THE OUTDOORS:
Fishing the 'Kill
by John Merwin

Spring Derbies Hook Kids on Fishing

VERMONT WEATHERVANE BOOK NEWS:
Find Beauty in Breakage
Making Bits & Pieces Mosaics

Collecting Shards
Excerpted from Making Bits & Pieces Mosaics

GET OUT AND ABOUT:
Vermont Country Calendar
Statewide Calendar of Events

Blue Ribbon Events
Detailed information on selected Vermont events

EXPLORE OUR OTHER SEASONS:
FALL
WINTER
SPRING
SUMMER

If you didn't pass through Rural, Vermont to get to this site you may want to make a small detour.

It's worth the trip!

Write Us:
weathervane
@ruralvermont.com
We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions.

or call: 802-645-9631
RD 1, Box 680
West Pawlet, VT 05775

SHOULDER TO THE PLOW

My horses teamed
in tandem
throw their backs into their work,
with their great hooves plodding down-field,
breaking up great clods of earth.
Yoked in common labor;
they and I determine how
we will till our soil together,
with our shoulders to the plow.

With my eye fixed
on the fencepost
at the far end of my field;
with my horses snorting loudly,
to our task we jointly yield.
They, to demands of harness,
and I, to sweat of brow;
while the pull of earth's resistance
puts my shoulder to the plow.

The stubborn soil
is balky
as the plowshare carves its groove;
while the countless, unrelenting rocks
crop up, as if to prove
they've claimed the land as theirs;
and I'm left squatting low,
lifting stones, and deftly leaning
with my shoulder to the plow.

My team and I
stay on the move,
our furrow's deep and true;
while the lingering sun and lengthening days
prod us on 'til work is through.
When the pathway hardens,
and stones your footsteps slow;
throw your back into your labor,
put your shoulder to the plow!

- Wayne Kelley
from Given to Verse in Vermont