A Countryman.
Imagine a life spent mainly outdoors,
Where the fields are your carpets
The hedges your walls.
With the sun on your face
And the sting of the rain
Tending your flock, or planting the grain
Imagine a time when you looked to the sky
Sometimes too wet and sometimes too dry.
But the seasons rolled on
and you managed the land
if it’s not in your blood
you may not understand.
Imagine a man who knows every tree
And the roll of each hill from the gate to the sea,
And the days turn to weeks
And the months into years
Of a lifetime of joy
And occasional tears.
Imagine that man as he now grows old
And he struggles to walk back out in the fold.
Then he starts to forget
All his family and friends
and he worries about
where all this will end.
Imagine that man now stuck in the house
Inside those four walls, just him and his spouse
And she struggles to cope
As he’s slipping away
And their brightly lit world
Has all turned to grey.
But deep in his soul is the murmur of trees
The feel of the sun and the soft summers breeze
It’s all still inside
He just needs us to see
That he wants to get out
Where he can be free
Please don’t lock him away, it will do him more harm
Give him a chance to get back on a farm
Remember the man,
It is no disgrace
To get mud on his boots
and a smile on his face.
Jan Millward©
