Ode For Ted

From under the crunch of my man's boot

green oat-sprouts jut;

he names a lapwing, starts rabbits in a rout

legging it most nimble

to sprigged hedge of bramble,

stalks red fox, shrewd stoat.

Loam-humps, he says, moles shunt

up from delved worm-haunt;

blue fur, moles have; hefting chalk-hulled flint

he with rock splits open

knobbed quartz; flayed colors ripen

rich, brown, sudden in sunlight.

For his least look, scant acres yield:

each finger-furrowed field

heaves forth stalk, leaf, fruit-nubbed emerald;

bright grain sprung so rarely

he hauls to his will early;

at his hand's staunch hest, birds build.

Ringdoves roost well within his wood,

shirr songs to suit which mood

he saunters in; how but most glad

could be this adam's woman

when all earth his words do summon

leaps to laud such man's blood!