I could survive on fitches
            and podded plants,
            cumin of the earth.
With the plough and the harrow
            brushed over new ground
            and green fallow,
We would reap wheat and barley,
            gather olives and figs
            and pluck the vines among thorns.
One yoke of oxen would suffice.
            (How we would draw and hoe
            in the mountains and steepest climbs.)
And after the equinox, during the rainy season,
            the cattle would trample the seeds
            in irrigated spots.
Then, when the time came for sowing,
            we would goad the oxen,
            urging.
The harvest would be vast.

10/7/00
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