The Vision

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THE VISION


Five acres, maybe eight, with an oak

tree on the hill which overlooks

the porch we sit and look out over


on. A garden, then however

many chickens will produce

however many eggs we eat. And geese,


or goats, or both. She feels

I struggle to untangle the ideal

from what it chokes, but what’s more real 


than hope? As to tools and other skills

needed to steward the soil—

tractors and a farmer’s will—


here we agree I am lacking, 

if differently defined. It’s what I’m hoping

to find by going: tools sure enough 


to till not just the plot of earth 

the house is on, but then the unseen 

acres in each of us, the rolling hills between.

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