they harvested by darkness
tractors carving through the night
up and down the plantation
guided by the infra red light
and the pilots in their cabins
hidden way down deep inside
watched through the video screens
to control their night long ride
the operation ceased at day break
in case of enemy attack
and the machines converted
pulled cutters in and back
for the armour to be deployed
and in just a few moments there
they’d made an attack weapon
from their mobile ploughshare
Categories:
ploughshare, fantasy, future, visionary, war,
Form: Rhyme
Blown by Atlantic wind and sail in chains
once were ragged souls like chattels branded -
from the Guinea Coast to old Port of Spain
African herdsmen on slave ships landed.
From my father’s car I saw the cane yields
where men of burden would cut, burn, and mash,
where woman and child stooping in the fields
saw the ripping flesh and heard the whips lash.
Now broke are those fetters through time and fate -
that dark tyranny of a forepassed age,
like the ships of old and their human freight
hunted, sold, and transported in a cage.
In that old grey Plymouth Fury I swear
I saw ghosts of the mills and the ploughshare.
Written: December 2009
Categories:
ploughshare, childhood,
Form: Sonnet
Idle sit the swords in bloodied rust
old glories faded in the long dull blades
lie about cold beauty's savage lives
masked within the scars of victors songs.
Words unbent repent in ploughshare shame
succumb to acquiescent mumbling
rising in the throat of strangled steel
tempered by the stench of battles fear.
Is peace naught but a swords rekindling flame
sharpening both sides of fates cold wand.
©12/2/2019
If you live by he sword then you die by the sword Poetry Contest
Categories:
ploughshare, future, peace, war,
Form: Blank verse
Among bald hills
Ceased udders, dry dales
Bleeding ploughshare
And sweating shaft
Deserted flora and fauna
Searching for the ray of life
To proceed though faint
Barks ‘n rags for clothing
Leafy sheds for shelter
And stones to postpone hunger
Is but the way of life.
In headlines for some days
A stunt for some to ladder
In archery-
To bridge the ebony with apple skinned
A handful of blessing
For a mouthful food
A hug indifferent
The act of fraternity.
Before a congregation
Among flashes many
To garnish the next day’s news
With spice savage
“You believe it-
So far
It has deferred our appetite”
And to the shock of everyone
“Or
Have a taste
To experiment yours.”
Categories:
ploughshare, feelings, psychological, woman,
Form: Free verse