Words for the Chisel (collection)/To One Loved Wholly Within Wisdom

by Genevieve Taggard

To One Loved Wholly Within Wisdom

Someone will reap you like a field,Pile your gathered plunder,

Garner what you bring to yield,Turn your beauty under;

In cruel usages, in suchSickle-cutting, heaping,

Certain women toil too much,Weary of their reaping;

Someone else may winnow you;Someone else may plunder;

I have cut too many newSwathes, and broken under

Soil that should have fallow lainTo be greedy either

For the shattered stalk, the stainWhere the clusters wither.