The invasion began
in the morning sun.
Hundreds of squatters,
our farm over-run.
My beautiful trees
planted in rows.
Chopped with machetes,
nature exposed.
I ran to the office
for the reference book.
Looked up these trees,
with laughter I shook.
A silver lining
I saw through the tears,
"Trim the tops off,
after two years."
I stood at the window
and laughed at those jerks.
These angry fellows
had done all the work!
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| Writing Prompt |
Write a poem of any type about something ugly (war, hate, cruelty) - but find the beauty (silver lining) in it. |
Author Notes
Thanks to VMarguarite for the perfect illustration. This is a true story. Our vegetable farm in Tanzania was over run by the squatters one morning. I had planted rows of special trees to prevent erosion. The squatters cut the tops off with machetes.
When I looked in the reference book for these trees, it said to cut the tops off after a couple years. These stupid rogues with destruction on their mind, had saved me a couple days work... and provided a laugh in the midst of chaos. Silver lining indeed.
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