MIDWESTERN

A poem to hopefully appear in the book “The Students Of The Highway”

MIDWESTERN

By

R.F. Husnik

If a man must die,

let him die

in a country summertime

alongside the road.

And flies and grasshoppers,

wearied from flights backward

and leaps forward,

will find respite

on his corpse.

And a scarecrow,

though straw-brained,

will perceive his peril

and extend an arm to him

from across the fields.

But the tall poles,

masterful overseers of rural landscapes,

will look down on him

in scornful arrogance

as they hold up the wires.

And a farm dog,

while bringing the cows home,

may pause to sniff him,

and if his odors are favorable,

may anoint him

with still more fragrances.

Yet, snakes will avoid him,

their serpentine cunning

favoring instead the tall grass.

And what of the human-natured,

wayfarers there,

whom it is said

must pass him by

on the other side?

And who can deny

that some of those

walking there

were bearing scythes and sickles,

while others dragged crosses

toward their final harvest

in the waning of autumn?

But the birds,

many of whom

yearly flee the harshness

of cold’s ravaging,

will carry his flesh

away in pieces

before winter comes.