Vegetable War Poetry

This all came from a misheard comment in a telephone conversation.


Down to the pits went the potatoes and carrots,
     Down to the earth followed the leeks and the swedes,
Laid out in rows a target for maggots,
     While the cabbage whites wheeled overhead.


Peas shoot with pea shooters
The crack shot team from the pod.
While the butternuts squash
And the earth leaks leeks
And the sky rains tears from God.


Press we to the field ungrieving,
In our heart of hearts believing.
This time the victory will be ours,
This year will see us rise our flowers
Above the dark, embittered ground
From which our roots will ne'er be found,
By mankind, though he digs for hours
And use his breath and many powers.
So press we to the field ungrieving,
In our heart of hearts believing.

(My thanks to Thomas Hardy for the opening lines of that last one)