The Farmer’s Children

Two brothers went out to face the cold
It was a moon-frozen night in the country
For a mile they walked barefoot on the road
Until they came to the barn where they would sleep
It was their task to guard the barn until morning
Lest some wanderer wish to rob the machinery
There were blankets supposedly to keep them warm
But in the dark of the barn the blankets were missing
The brothers were cold and the night closed in
One brother flopped into the straw to get it over with
The other could sense that the scene wasn’t right
Glittering metal, the teeth of the reaper loomed above
The shadows and moonlight quickened his fright
Painfully cold, he hugged his brother asleep in the hay
Their father found them still as statues the next day

MB 2004

A not-quite-sonnet inspired by Elizabeth Bishop’s 1948 short story of the same name.

Two brothers went out to face the cold
It was a moon-frozen night in the country
For a mile they walked barefoot on the road
Until they came to the barn where they would sleep