A Year on Green Hill Farm

19 Comments

Say not the Struggle nought Availeth

BY ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH

Say not the struggle nought availeth, 
     The labour and the wounds are vain, 
The enemy faints not, nor faileth, 
     And as things have been they remain. 

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars; 
     It may be, in yon smoke concealed, 
Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
     And, but for you, possess the field. 

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking 
     Seem here no painful inch to gain, 
Far back through creeks and inlets making, 
     Comes silent, flooding in, the main. 

And not by eastern windows only, 
     When daylight comes, comes in the light, 
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly, 
     But westward, look, the land is bright.

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. You’ve nothing to worry about there.”

~James Herriot

Categories: Reflections on Farm Life

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19 Comments »

    • Thank you very much, Catterel. I was happy to be able to stay busy.
      The deer are wild. In August, a group of bucks and another group of does would come by late in the evening to visit an heirloom apple tree and eat the apples that had fallen on the ground. I would wait, perched in one of the upstairs windows, to capture a few pictures of them.

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