I Can Wait

"I can wait" said the farmer ,

When all the seeds were in the soil.

"I can wait until the harvest

To prosper from my toil."

 

He paused a bit to wipe his brow,

How fast had gone the morn.

"I'll work this plot all summer,

Then reap my crop of corn."

 

And so the farmer tends the field,

And as he works he knows,

He will see the harvest

From all the seeds he sows.

---

"I can wait," said the steward,

When the treatment was all through.

"I can wait to see the new stand,

It was time here to renew."

 

He thought about the work it took

To regenerate the stand.

He thought about the way it looked;

Some might not understand.

 

"It looks a little naked now,

But that won't last for long.

New growth will quickly fill the site,

With young trees growing strong."

---

Unlike the farmer with his crop,

The steward cannot say,

"I can wait to reap the harvest

From what I 've done today."

 

The steward starts the trees to grow,

Tending season after season,

While others question why he does,

What could be his reason?

 

Not for himself he does it,

No reward he'll likely see,

But those who follow after,

He will leave his legacy.

by Brenda L. Wilkins

(Perkey et al. 1993)

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