Image: Great Uncle Charl Arthur Knoll (1900-1985) abt 1916
WITH A HOE IN THE ORCHARD
With a hoe in the orchard he surely could make or gainsay
Sense of the world; for as his fatal blade at their taproot
Rendered weeds up and over to their last judgement day,
The wind and the sun or the cloud and rain was this moot
Court for time-paced thoughts, savouring trial answers for
All the rank problems of the world, which made for this trail
Of upset in wilting weeds stretching back behind him that wore
Their surrender in respect to his blade, for their rankness ailed
Them now, and this clearing of feral greenery off a hirsute earth
Gave him evidence for a potency the world seemed to have lost
Where work proved his manual strength, showed him up as worth
More than it paid, more than its product, still cheap for what it cost
Him just as it took his youth away, took his strength, took of his arms
Making fruit trees productive, a land fertile, and him doing no harm.
