“Weichuan Farmers” [渭川田家] by Wang Wei [王维] [w/ Audio]

Low, warm light lands on the village.
Cattle and sheep trapsing farmward.
Farmer mulls a missing shepherd,
Leaning on his staff, still on guard.
Pheasants cluck, wheat heads are heavy,
Silkworms dormant, mulberry leaves few.
Farmers stand, hoes on their shoulders,
Telling old tales, as if they were new.
How I envy the idle time --
To chat about mankind's decline.

This is poem #16 of the 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首.] The original poem in Simplified Chinese is:

斜光照墟落, 穷巷牛羊归。 
野老念牧童, 倚杖候荆扉。
雉雊麦苗秀, 蚕眠桑叶稀。
田夫荷锄立, 相见语依依。
即此羡闲逸, 怅然吟式微。

Heron [Haiku]

a heron stalks
amid rice seedlings:
mild Summer day.

DAILY PHOTO: Korean Countryside

Secondary Feeders [Haiku]

after harvest
cows stubble graze, &
egrets hunt in the wake.

Spring Pasture [Haiku]

Spring’s arrival
brings lush, green grass;
livestock keeps it trim.

Chick Wrangling [Senryū]

mama chicken
struts with great confidence
for one wrangling chicks.

Pillbox Bunker [Tanka]

pillbox bunker from
a war a lifetime ago
sits in a field.
what the farmer must think
as he plants around it.

Empty Pasture [Haiku]

in woods' shade, 
cattle sit or stand, &
file barn-ward at dusk.

“Crops” by Walter de la Mare [w/ Audio]

Farmer Giles has cut his rye;
Oh my! Oh my!
Farmer Bates has cut his wheat;
Och, the thieving hares in it!

Farmer Turvey's cut his barley;
Ripe and early, ripe and early.
And where day breaks, rousing not,
Farmer Weary's cut his throat.

DAILY PHOTO: Views from Atop Uttari Betta