Poem For Today: Reapers By Jean Toomer
"Reapers"
Black reapers with the sound of steel on stones
Are sharpening scythes. I see them place the homes
In their hip-pockets as a thing that's done,
And start their silent swinging, one by one.
Black horses drive a mower through the weeds,
And there, a field rat, startled, squealing bleeds.
His belly close to ground. I see the blade,
Blood-stained, continue cutting weeds and shade.
Jean Toomer (1894-1967)
