The Do-It-Yourself Doctrine

What can we know of farmers and their needs,

We in our ordered life and routine round,

Controlled by clock and bell, with humdrum task,

If we have never ploughed the earth for seeds,

Or wrestled with the stubborn stony ground

To answer all the questions that men ask?

How can we feel the enmity of weeds

That flourish where no other plant is found,

If we have never fought them, we who bask

In comfort that derives from others’ deeds?

It may be that the onlooker can see

Faults and mistakes in what he cannot do

Himself.  If so, let him again review

His own shortcomings with humility.

 

Weekly Times     9.9.60