THREE RED BARNS AND A HOUSE

There is a meaning in the land.
Some know it; some do not; some change it
From what it was--and should be--
To an abnormality that should never be.
Farmers do not see it: they are too close
To see the earth: they see the clod.
They are too preoccupied with farming:
They seduce the willing earth to gain the things
Society has decreed each man must have
To keep from starving.
They must work too long, too hard--
The earth is a demanding lover.
But the work they leave as residue remains
And is an integral part of the whole that is the earth.

The land of northern Illinois is a Valley of the Nile
Stretching southward from the Illinois River
To the hilly, rocky no-man's-land
Where the glacier died.
Driving swiftly, surely in a car that roared and ran,
I came upon it suddenly, the fecundity of melted ice.
Over a small hill that ran on level
On the other side--and there it was--
This Valley of the Nile of Illinois.

It had been raining.
It was coming dusk.
A small rain--although the cloud
Was big and black and covered most the sky.
Hardly a rain at all--almost not a shower.
But the little drops, falling softly
And without ambitious leanings,
Had mated with the dust specks
That had usurped the air.
The car I drove, pounding like a wild free thing beneath me--
Although it wasn't really--
Ran out from under the storm cloud that had failed to bluff.
And there was the sun, stretching his arms
And yawning after a day of heavy work.

The air, washed by the raindrops,
Was softer than a woman's thighs in passion.
It was a soft moist kiss, and cool
Upon my face and hands. The speed
With which the car was moving
Caused a moaning of the air--
As if with ripe lips parted
It groaned to touch the stiff erectness of the aerial
That stood straight and taut outside the car.

The earth was black--and rich--and fertile--fecund--yielding,
Voluptuous in the curving of the furrows to the sun.
The grass along the roadedge was soft and silken,
With a greenness that comes only after rain.
The thundercloud was like a shelf behind me.
The dazzling brightness of the sun was dimmed

2/

By seven veils of filmy clouds.
There was an ecstacy: I stopped
The surging blindness of the car:
It was a sight that comes but once
And stays for seconds only
And never comes again
Exactly as it was.

I stood and drank until the thing was gone.
And then I looked around--

To see what ecstacy had hidden:
Three red barns and a house.
Through all the fields of moist rich earth
Stood groves of trees, green trees.
And in each grove, as much mass-produced
As was my car, stood
Three red barns and a house.

Oases of ugliness to offset the desert--
A desert of beauty no man could witness undiluted
And remain alive.

The banks have grabbed this earth, I said,
And given three red barns--
And a house

To each farmer who must eat.
But, after all, I thought, only artist fools will starve--
With their own volition.

One could not expect men to be glorious fools.
Banks are very necessary to us;
They are pillars of our way of life.
Banks are banks, and farmers do not want to starve.

So I climbed into the car without elation
At having seen what I had seen,
And I left the Valley of the Nile of Illinois--
Where Cleopatra's dead.

THREE RED BARNS AND A HOUSE

2/

By seven veils of filmy clouds.
There was an ecstacy: I stopped
The surging blindness of the ear:
It was a sight that comes but once
And stays for seconds only
And never comes again
Exactly as it was.

I stood and drank until the thing was gone.
And then I looked around--
To see what ecstacy had hidden:
Three red barns and house.
Through all the fields of moist rich earth
Stood groves of trees, green trees.
And in each grove, as much mass-produced
As was my ear, stood
Three red barns and a house.
Oases of ugliness to offset the desert--
A desert of beauty no man could witness undiluted
And remain alive.
The banks have grabbed this earth, I said,
And given three red barns--
And a house
To each farmer who must eat.
But, after all, I thought, only artist fools will starve--
With their own volition.
One could not expect men to be glorious fools.
Banks are very necessary to us;
They are pillars of our way of life.
Banks are banks, and farmers do not want to starve.
So I climbed into the ear without elation
At having seen what I had seen,
And I left the Valley of the Nile of Illinois--
Where Cleopatra's dead.