Takaichi Tanaka Poet Narrative

MEAGRE RETURN

Beavering for months on end 
instead, for perspire awaits meagre return 
the ruse hour of labor, as niggles the bristle 
all into novel serfdom crown:
the once mellow soil that now declines 
when called upon enough grain must bear 
the sky that now a tear short-and-over sheds 
because its emotion now fitfully precipitates
and, so, now the humanly action wears
surely, a meagre return’s all o'er eminent:
has mankind the death blow dealt himself?
or are the gods no longer caring more?

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Alison A Smith October 2, 2026 at 6:36 PM A powerful, richly textured meditation on labour, environmental depletion, and human consequence. Its fractured diction and repeated “now” evoke a world strained beyond balance, while the final questions leave a grave, haunting resonance.