Editor’s Note: A trusted group of landed Latin American’s has arrived at Refuge Farm to commence work on the new screened-in front porch. There will be cheerful chaos over the next few weeks around the front Fire Ring, new steel roofing and the joy of summer construction. A Supreme Court in controversy about the nature of life and votes and firearms in a government apparently at war with itself. Other stuff? A new book project is funded and underway…135 days to an Election that will drive change in fundamental ways. Arrias greets this brilliant morning with the realization that “food” will be a rising issue, even here in the breadbasket of the world. Those members of the Writer’s Section will try to keep it all in account. But for the start of this, we will take our usual places and watch the blue tarps being spread across the deck, husky men swinging hammers and leveraging pry-bars…yammering en espagnol- life goes on in challenging times…in Virginia’s Proud Piedmont!

– Vic

Author’s note: My Muse has been thinking about Ukraine and grain and things…Probably too much!

– Arrias

Arrias and His Muse: The Land

Warm and humid, fog hugs the trees,
A woodpecker hammers away,
Fresh turned soil, the smell of rain,
A quiet start to a new day.

The grass is growing, the corn knee high,
Under a window the flowers still bloom,
The land calls, the farmers answer,
Food for the whole world to consume.

But across the sea war rages,
The call of empire lures a tyrant on,
And further away another plots,
Who will be our Don John?

In a great capital a tired and angry old man,
Surrounded by sycophants and liars,
Caters to a few power-hungry elites,
Feeding their very earthly desires.

War grinds on, we know not its end,
It seems to grow as with a life all its own,
While in China an evil emperor,
Dreams of an even greater throne.

Around the world there is fear of famine,
While good soil lies unused,
Controlled by bureaucrats with too much power,
They care not if the poor are abused.

But the farmers do what they do,
While the effete scoff and condemn,
Elite pols and staffers created these problems,
Why do we listen to them?

There are answers all around us,
But power has its own logic,
The “elite” just want to rule,
They don’t care if their rule is tragic.

The problems all seem to be growing,
But not the product of Olympian Fate’s visions,
These problems have a source,
The unholy consequence of evil decisions.

Can we step back from the brink,
Can our nation and the world be saved?
Or do we face a future of ruin,
Special people in castles, and a world enslaved?

God alone knows the answer,
But it requires no clever saw,
Simply throw the old bums out,
And return to the rule of law.

Meanwhile the farmers keep farming,
Producing a bountiful harvest of grains,
Ignore addle-brain academicians,
Remember, always the land remains.

****
Copyright 2022 Arrias
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